She's out of my control
by Justme210
Summary: Orihime is a new shinigami assigned in Ishida's division, but she cannot escape meeting the terrifying captain Ichigo. Ichigo doesn't like her character, but he finds himself drawn by her 'magic'. Ishida doesn't like at all the interaction between Orihime and Ichigo and tries his best to avoid their meetings. Will he succeed? Or will it be transformed in a juicy love triangle?
1. Chapter 1

~ Introduction ~

"Can you repeat again how did you two arrive looking like this?" Ishida asks annoyed, a vein popping from his head.

"Tsh…" Ichigo mutters under his breath. He had gone all the way to return to Ishida his new disciple and now he has the nerve to make him to repeat the entire story. "I'm going to repeat only once so pay attention. This ''thing'' (he said pointing to Orihime) had the nerve to climb on my window while I was taking a bath, to land in my bathtub and then to ask me surprised if this wasn't your fucking division meeting. Plus, I don't know why her clothes shrank in the hot water so I needed to lend her my shinigami uniform. Did you get it know?" All the other members in the Unohana division had their looks were divided between the poor wet Orihime and the half dressed Ichigo, the both looking hot like hell.

"Gomennasai, captain, but I'm really so sorry. I'm very bad at following directions and I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep so well last night. I tried your door, but it was locked so I thought that the meeting began and I climbed the window in order to attend, I wouldn't dare to thing that you were taking a bath…" The innocence in Orihime's eyes bought the hearts of the witnesses, but not Ichigo's.

"Bullshit… The steam from the window didn't hint you anything at all, isn't it? What the hell is a division meeting for you? Is it a group meeting to go to the hot springs? And you need to stop being so clumsy, this is the third time since I had started specking and you still don't move your feet from mine. Are you trying to test my patience?" Ichigo's eyes were burning with rage. Orihime removed her feet from his, but when she tried to bend to apologize to him she hit him with her head in his uh… special zone, making his towel to slip and revealing his jewels to all the persons. That was it! Ichigo's palm clenched on Orihime's neck, his spiritual energy making the others to kneel in front of him, a little more force in his fingers and her neck would be smashed in such tiny particles that no one would found them, but…

"Kurosaki-kun, may I have a word with you?" The cold words came from no one than Unohana, the captain of the 4th division. Her abilities are still a mystery, but her powers as well as her frightening aura would make anyone, even Ichigo to think twice before he will make an enemy of her. So, he released Orihime's neck as well as his spiritual pressure. Luckily some of the members passed out, there were no casualties. "Now, if you're nice please follow me. You too, Ishida and Inoue." Unohana aura resumed to her warm one, reminding to Ishida that he needs to be extra careful with his words now.

"I'm deeply apologizing for disturbing your sleep, captain." The dark haired man says humbly while Isane is serving tea to the guests.

"There is no need to apologize, Ishida. I wanted to kindly talk to Ichigo that we're currently in my division and I would appreciate if he wouldn't use his power in order to hurt any of my disciples. So can you take my request into consideration?" The brunette's captain voice was warm but there was no room for negotiations.

"Tsh… Got it. Anymore requests?" The orange haired man response seemed more like a challenge, but in reality Ichigo was very bad at making compromises.

"I'm glad that you asked. I would prefer that the next time when you visit you would be fully dressed. Now, if you can wait for a little while, Inoue, please change yourself in the clothes from the closet and return to captain Ichigo his uniform to avoid other misunderstandings." Orihime's face turned red when she was thinking about her captain words. She felt like the biggest pervert alive, she changed herself in a matter of seconds in order to not make to make the things even more complicated, then she gave the clothes to Ichigo without making eye contact. He refrained himself from making any comment when he took the clothes, but Unohana couldn't let him to escape so easily. "I hope that you will not to consider Inoue guilty, regarding today, taking into account that you could simply give her your yukata and keep your captain cape." Ishida couldn't contain his smile realizing the detail that could save this situation since the beginning if he would take it into account. Indeed, he has the best captain that he could ask for.

"Tsh… I'm leaving." The orange haired man decided to take his leave, but not before he could pass a malicious remark at Ishida. "Ishida, don't forget, you don't have a place here." His remark changed the short moment of happiness for the dark haired man.

"Ishida, please don't take to heart his remarks. You as well as Isane are my precious lieutenants. Now, take Inoue to her room and notify her about her tasks starting tomorrow. Inoue, I hope that you can forget today incidents and have a great time in our division. Dismissed." The two leave the room after paying their respects.

**Next chapter : First steps into the shinigami world**

**A.N. Hello guys, sorry for my absence. I had a hard time managing work, studies and life. Many things had happened good and bad ones. I will try to post more this week I have some free time. The next update of this story will be on Sunday, or Monday. I would like to know what you think about this intro, if you like the idea, some guessing for what is going to happen ? **

**I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to review/follow/favorite this story. Thank you for taking your time to read it. XOXO Justme210**


	2. Chapter 2

**~ Chapter 1 : First steps into the shinigami world ~**

"Does your neck still hurt?" Ishida asks seeing that Orihime is trying not to rub the black zones surrounding her neck. Seeing how bad her injury was the man was wondering how she managed to survive, let alone not to pass out like the others…

"Hehehe… I'm used to get hurt. It's just… I hope that captain Kurosaki doesn't hate me…" The dark haired man was shocked to see that she was more worried about how Ichigo saw her, rather than her injuries… But why did not captain Unohana help her with her injury? Did he miss something? The orange haired girl whispers something, making a gold shield to cover her neck and in a matter of seconds her injury was simply gone? "Is this my new room?" She asks seeing that Ishida stooped in front of a chamber.

"… No, this is not. I'm sorry, but how did you manage to heal your wound so quickly?" His answer came a little delayed considering the fact that he was still in shock about what he did witnessed. Even his captain needed half an hour in order to heal her injury, but she was amazing…

"This is one of my techniques. I have the power to reject phenomena by denying or undoing events in various forms. This power can be used for attack, defense, or healing. I had used my healing ability just a few seconds ago, in fact your captain discovered me when I was treating a little boy and she proposed to me to join your squad and here I am. I'm sorry that I caused so many problems for you already." The man was surprised that even if her powers were amazing her heart was kind too, and her beauty was undeniable. "This uniform is incredible. Who did it?" Ishida's heart was about to break, she was the first one who praised his manual labor in such a great way.

"I did it." Her eyes sparkle hearing his answer.

"Really? Can you teach me? It's the first time since I arrived here and found a yukata that fits me so well. Uh… The others were simply too small, that the shinigami in charge made me to wear a mean yukata all the time."Her cuteness overwhelmed him, making blood to pour from his nose. "Are you ok? Do you need my help?" He couldn't say to her that her desire to help was making him to blood even faster so he decided to assign to her a random room in order to calm himself down.

"I'm fine. I'll try when I'll have time. This is your room. This is a list of your task. Have a nice evening." After he manages to convey in a form or in another the message, he leaves in order to not loose even more his position.

"Little blue man, is it in my head or did I scare him too?" Orihime starts to have a debate with the imaginary friend inside her head. Since she entered in this ''world'' the people acted strange around her. But she couldn't point out what she was doing wrong or how can she change herself in order to not make the people to feel so uncomfortable.

She opens the door, a powerful smell of dust invading her. She coughs and she tries to remove the wet tears what covered her eyes in order to see how she can clean the room. She's surprised to see that the room looks somehow that it is assigned to another person?

There were several paintings on the walls with beautiful flowers or sceneries. The furniture was so small that it was like it was designed for a kid or maybe for a small person? Orihime managed to find some cloths in order to remove some of the dust to discover more about the person who used live in this room.

After some long minutes of cleaning, maybe even an hour she finds an interesting clue. There was a locked drawer and she could feel with her fingers that there was something written on it. She calls again her fairies and she asks them to restore the piece of furniture in a state where she could open it.

Orihime's whished was fulfilled and even more. The room was restored in such a good shape, like it was brand new. The light turns on and now she could see that this room was simply gorgeous. All the furniture was made of white marble, encrusted with gold particles and crystals. The room itself seemed like a room of a princess from a fairytale.

After her amazement faded, she looks again at the drawer. The name Hisana was written on it. Inside of it there was an album, a pink flower and a wedding ring. The girl's curiosity grew stringer, so she decides to open the album. Inside of it she sees pictures of a couple with dark hair, they seemed so happy, like they had no worry in the word. She sees even their wedding day, but the pictures somehow stops after it. At the end of the album there is an envelope covered with blood ''For my beloved husband".

Wet tears start to feel from her eyes seeing that this was a sad story about a wife forced to leave her husband. She doesn't have any second to put the album pack into its place when the door bursts open and she finds herself smashed to a wall with a zanpakuto treating her neck.

"How did you manage to enter this room and what are you reasons?" Seeing the album on the floor the rage of the intruder grows even bigger. "How could you open it? What do you want?" Orihime was on the verge to pass out, but luckily she was able to call Tsubaki in order to remove the intruder from her.

"I'm… Inoue… Orihime…" The girl manages to say trying hard to manage her breath. "This is… my first day here… This is… my room." She takes a big breath seeing that the intruder will not wait for her to finish. "I didn't want to pry your intimacy, but I believe that she would like for you to read the letter."

"Inoue Orhime, isn't it?" The intruder says with a solemn manner. "My name is captain Byakuya Kuchiki. Right now you are inside the room of my dead wife. I'd order precisely that no one will ever enter again in this room if they value their life, but this room was assigned to you. Do you want to die?" The girl's sure that the man will not break his words, so to be extra sure that she will be safe she uses her shield in order to protect herself.

"Captain Kuchiki, I'd already explained the situation. I know how much you loved your wife, but I believe that you need to read her last words. Even if you kill me right now, that will not ease your pain, if you don't let anyone to stay in this room, it will not make her come to live, if you don't want to recognize that she's no longer here, then that will not resurrect her."

"Shut up!" Byakuya tries to break her shield, but he finds himself unable, even if he used a big quantity of his power. She tries to not be scared of him, than she bends for the album. "Don't dare to…" But his words were too late, because Inoue touched the unopened blooded envelope.

"I know that is hard to lose the person that you had loved the most, but after I saw the room and the pictures of the 2 of you I think that you really need this. Please. Take a look inside." His rage somehow faded when he saw his beloved one writing. Her blood seemed fresh even if there were more than one hundred years since she died. He couldn't understand how she could open the drawer without force, he being the only one having the key, or how can she resist his power and even to try to help him when all he wanted was to murder her.

He didn't say any sound, but he moved his hand in her direction requesting the envelope. She smiled fry and gave it to him.

"I hope that this will ease a little of your pain." Her words were sincere but the moment when she gave him the letter that was the moment when she passed out. Byakuya was shocked when she felt in his arms and he didn't feel to push her away. He was asking himself who she really was and what kind of spells did she manage to inflict on him, making to lose himself in this way, like he had lost himself a long time ago. Would this letter manage to recover a little of the feeling that he had buried when he lost his wife ?

"Captain Kuchiki, I'm deeply sorry that I messed up the rooms. I will assign her another room right now." Ishida tries to cover for the situation. Today was the first time when he found himself in a difficult situation, since he was assigned to this division. If Ichigo is a scary person, his perfect match would be no one other than Byakuya. The only thing that Ishida hopes was that the Orihime to not be punished too.

"There is no need. Let her to stay here. She deserves it." Having said what he wanted to say, Byakuya took his leave. Ishida moves again his eyes on Orihime, he didn't know if she was really lucky that she managed to survive twice, or unlucky that she had annoyed 2 of the most important captains in Soul Society.

The following morning Orihime feels something warm is pocking her cheek, but she's feeling too tired to move even a finger. The pocking doesn't stop what makes her finally to open her sleepy eyes, seeing Ayame (one of her fairies) trying to convey some sort of a message to her.

"Wake up or you're going to be late." Tsubaki yells, he has already known that they others will go anywhere with their soft behavior on the girl.

"Kami, I'll be ready in a second." The orange haired girl replies. Tsubaki says again some mean comments after what he reminds her of her program.

Orihime needs to be in Unohana's room in order to treat the wounded from the last night mission, if there was none then she will be taught about the structure of the division and about the people what they need to treat with a specified schedule.

It was 10 o'clock when the girl was finally ready. She goes for the specified meeting point, but she stops seeing that in the place of last night gathering there were several dozens of bodies lay on the ground, many shinigamies being assigned to treat just a wounded person.

The strange thing wasn't the big number of persons, but their wounds. From the wounds some sort of a black smoke was being emanated. There was no blood just a thick black liquid what seems to be spreading in their skin, making them to rotten still being alive. The smell's really awful, some of the shinigami wearing masks.

"Inoue, come here." Unohana calls Orihime when she feels her spiritual presence.

"Orihime Inoue is here." The beauty tries to act in an official manner, making the atmosphere a little easier to be handled.

"What do you think about this case?" The captain asks. The orange haired girl looks at the man in front of her. His case wasn't any different than the others, but she could feel that the status of the mysterious black thing was worse, it was trying to eat all his spiritual energy. "Do you think you can help him?" The girl doesn't respond for a while pondering if she's able or not.

Her fairies were anxious that this black thing can hurt their master, but they knew that if Orihime decides to help a person even with the price of her life they can do nothing than assist her till the last breath.

_"You can nullify this energy, but don't try to absorb it, otherwise it can kill us all." Tsubaki advices her seeing that no other has the courage to say something._

_"Do you believe that I can resume some of his spiritual energy?" Orihime concern comes from the fact that if a shinigami doesn't have a stable amount of spiritual energy, that shinigami will chase to exist, so even if she can suppress this dark energy she maybe not able to save his life._

_"Tsk, that's a piece of cake. Just do what you need to do and trust us." Orihime giggles seeing that she has even more support that she could wish for so what can she ask more?_

"I can do it." Orihime replies after a long moment of silence. When she's talking with her fairies no one can hear their conversation." Soten Kisshun." This command summons Ayame and Shun'ou, and they would form a shield around an injured person. The shield reverses time, thus returning the injured person to an earlier state, effectively healing all wounds.

The process is different from the usual, because they need to be extra careful to not be touched by this dark energy. After 10 minutes of concentration the shinigami could breath freely again, feeling that nothing had happened.

Ishida glanced at Unohana. They tried their best just to maintain his life, but Orihime in this short amount of time could solve the problem easily. The captain coughs making Ishida to stop staring at Orihime before she could observe.

"Good job, Orihime. Are you feeling ok?" Unohana didn't want to exhaust her, but the girl nodded that she's fine. "Everyone, listen to me. I want to place all the worst cases in the same place and let Inoue to handle them. Do you feel prepared?"

"Hai." The girl accepts her task and after all the special cases are gathered she let's Soten Kisshun to solve the rest. Ayame and Shun'ou know already how to handle the situation so she can go to see if there is something else that she can do.

"I'm really sorry for what had happened last night." Ishida bends in front of her. She's feeling really awkward making him to feel like he needs to do such a gesture in order to be forgiven by her.

"Ishida-san, please raise yourself. There's not your fault. I'm fine as you can see. Hehe…" She doesn't know how she can assure him that she's fine, but she's surprised when his hands grab hers.

"You don't understand, it was my fault because I mistook the rooms. This didn't happen to me before, but I want you to know that…"

"Reiji, I will break your hands if you don't let me go right now." Ishida's moment of confession was broke by no other than Ichigo who was being dragged by Reiji in order to receive medical care. The dark haired man had a murderous look in his eyes when the 2 came to them. Ishida has asked Unohana what he should do with his feeling and she advised him to confess, that being the case why he was so close of Orihime's room when Byakuya cam and came to her rescue, but he had found her passed out. So for the second time his confession fails making him to doubt that he needs to convey his feelings.

"What did happen?" Orihime asks trying to lift the tension from the air.

"Tsh… Don't mind us. Keep doing what you were doing to Ishida. I have no reason to be here." Ichigo was trying again to escape from Reiji but he had caught his hand making him unable to move.

"For once, stop hiding your problems and face them." Reiji didn't wait anymore for the compliance of the orange haired man and he broke Ichigo's yukata showing that Ichigo's hand it was so black that it almost went for his chest.

"Kami, you need help right now." Orihime wants to touch his hand in order to see if it was the same cause as the others or maybe his was greater, but he pushes her away.

"Get lost, I don't need your help, any of your help." Ichigo's eyes became red, he was mad, but why. Why would he decline her help?

"Captain Kurosaki, I advise you to not hurt my division members,ok?" Unohana's saying this words putting pressure on Ichigo's dark hand causing him great amount of pain. "As you can see if your hand will not be treated as soon as possible you will lose it. The person who is the most capable right now with this matter is not me, but Inoue. "

"I see." Ichigo removes Unohana's hand and it seems that he understood the idea, but in the next moment… He takes his zampakuto and used it to slice his hand. "As I said I'm not here to beg for help. If you try to make me to do so, I'd better live left handed. Come one, Reiji. We have better things to do."

"Santen Kesshun. Soten Kisshun." Orihime calls her fairies but in a different way. She uses her shield (Santen Kesshun) to not let Ichigo to leave, after what she tries to put his hand back and cure him.

"Woman, are you expecting me to stay still and let you do as you please?" Ichigo's smirk was dark, he was glad that there was someone daring enough to provoke him.

"I'm not, that's why I used my abilities in order to not let you to leave." Ichigo was pocking the thin shield what's expecting to keep him captive. He must to recognize that it would work for the most of the shinigami in the Seiretrei, even the captains, but because his spiritual energy was special releasing a big quantity of it would be enough to break it.

"Tsk… You cannot keep me captive, but I admire your courage. I will give you 5 minutes. If you cannot do what you said in that time then, you'll need to resign your position and to never appear in front of me. Do we have a deal?" The orange haired man didn't believe that she will take the bet. It was simply impossible to cure him, without saying that she needs to replace his arm.

"I'll do it. But if I succeed you must not doubt me again or hurt me." Her words make him to laugh.

"Tsk… Ok then, but if you fail I will kill you." Their words were more like a negotiation rather than an understanding between 2 fellows.

"Don't bite your tongue when I'll succeed." Orihime takes out her tongue at him. She's not sure that she can do what she had just promised, but if she didn't confront Ichigo sooner or later he would probably try to kill her again. The orange haired man smiled, but not in a creepy way. He decided that he will not kill her even if she doesn't succeed because she was somehow interesting.

The time was passing fast. 5 minutes were like almost no time. In the first 2 minutes Orihime managed to remove the most part of the dark thing, but something was different. It was like there were 2 kinds of dark energies.

"Tick-Tack, Tick-Tack. You're running out of time." Ichigo tries to tease her, somehow he enjoys himself seeing her trying so hard.

"I know that this might be a strange question, but… do you have some hollow energy inside of you?" He was impressed by her guess considering the fact that it wasn't a know topic.

"Yeah. Got a problem?" Contrary of his desire to make her uncomfortable, she displayed a beautiful radiant smile.

"Not at all, you're almost done."

"Done for life ?" The orange haired man tries t joke, but she doesn't follow his lead. She has a minute left and his body structure is quite different, using all her concentration she managed to recover his body. Maybe she was some seconds late, but no one was counting so precisely the time.

Ichigo used his spiritual energy level in order to destroy the barrier to prove his words that she cannot keep him captive. "Good job, Inoue, now you made my eyes on you. You'd better not disappoint me." He throw a piece of a rock with a skull carved out on it. "Keep it in case you need it. It might save your life. Come on, Reiji. We had lost already too much time."

**Next chapter : Making friends**

**A.N. The next update of this story will be on Thursday, if not on Saturday. Don't forget to let a review of your opinion of this chapter ****J**

**Please review/follow/favorite it.**

**Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210**


	3. Chapter 3

**~ Chapter 2 : Making friends ~**

After a week Orihime starts to get used with her new life as a shinigami, but she was still wondering what does it mean the rock received from Ichigo? He had left before she could ask anything else, plus… Ishida's acting strange, he seems to try to avoid her.

"Inoue, may I have your attention?" Unohana's voice interrupts the train of thoughts of the girl.

"Hai. I'm very sorry, Unohana-san." The captain smiles, indeed it was not such a long time since Orihime joined her division, but it seems that she had already found her place. The only regret of the dark haired woman was the fact that Ishida wasn't able to convey his feeling and now he was acting really strange in front of Orihime, maybe she can help them in another way.

"Soon, we will receive a visit of a person who I believe that you're going to get along very well." The girl doesn't look so convinced. Considering her past week she doesn't remember to do anything else of healing, eating and sleeping. The captain hits gently the girl's head. "Trust me. She will be right here in 3,2,1…"

"Retsu-chan, I need your help." An orange haired woman very beautiful and with very big boobs enters the room.

"Please, calm down, Rangiku. You're not going to become any younger if you rush the things." The captain relationship with the woman seems to be really good, considering the fact that she was the first shinigami what was received in this manner.

"Don't jinx me. I had such an awful week. I believe that Toshiro had finally reached the puberty. I had found him sneaking some sort of an erotic manga, but he didn't let me to read it too, instead he made me to work double shifts. I tell you, in days like this I miss Isshin to be my partner." Rangiku's eyes roller on Orihime. "Who's this cutie, I don't believe that I had seen her around."

"She's my new apprentice, but to be honest I don't believe that I can teach her that much." The eyes of the orange haired woman grow wider.

"Uuu… It's the first time when I hear you talking like this about someone. She must to be really special." Orihime doesn't know what to do, she feels really uncomfortable to be the third wheel of this conversation. Should she excuse herself or is it too late to dig a hole in order to hide herself?

"I'm just telling you that she's the one who treated the most of the injured people from the last week incident. Did you got any news about the creature or creatures what attacked us?" Unohana's words makes Rangiku impressed, but in the same time it reminds her about that disaster.

"As you know my division was assigned to search for any clues on that territory, but it was all in vain. It's like trailing the air. It's still a strange energy there, but we couldn't find any source. Huh… All I can say for sure is this case it's really strange. Our apprentices what were assigned to come with us for this mission had passed out after an hour of researching the place. It's just my assumption, but I believe that this thing, creature, whatever is it, it collects our spiritual energy for some dark plans. Ichigo was the only one who was still conscious while he was fighting with the creature, but he cannot remember how it looks like. All he can remember is that after he defeated it, the creature had evaporated in the air."

"Do you believe that this is an illusion?" Unohana guesses trying to help the flow of the research.

"We're not sure. We had already contacted Mayuri-sensei, but you know how he acts when he finds something 'interesting' it will take a while. For the moment I and Ichigo will continue our investigation. Speaking of it why did you call me?" Unohana smiles, Rankigu has asked what she wanted to say since the beginning.

"I know that you were requesting some shinigami's from my division in order to help with your investigation, but our situation was quite complicated till today. So I decided to send Inoue and Ishida in order to help you for a couple of days. "Rangiku's eyes brighten.

"Of course! I was going to die of boredom. Now I will have a cutie with whom I can stay and chat all day, plus I will see Ichigo and Ishida fighting several times a day. You made my day, Unohana. Can I take Inoue now?" Orihime feels ashamed, feeling like she was an object of a bargain.

"Yes, but have some fun before going back to work."

"Trust me, if there is someone suited for having fun there is no one better than me. Come on, Inoue. I'll show you the best places." Rangiku winks at the girl. The older woman doesn't wait for a reply, so she takes Orihime and they both dash out before the captain can wave them goodbye.

"So what's your name?" Rangiku asks when they arrived at one of her favorite spots.

"What's my name?" The girl asks puzzled, she was not used to shunpo from a place to another so she was a little dizzy.

"Yes, your name silly. For example my name is Rangiku Matsumoto, you can call me Rangiku. Now's your turn." Rangiku winks again. The girl blushes. She was not used to such a powerful woman.

"My name is Inoue Orihime, you can call me Orihime. I'm pleased to meet you." Contrary to her expectation, the older woman gave her a bear hug.

"You're such a sweet girl Hime, but take my advice. Sweet girls don't have so much fun, so follow me I will teach you how to have f-u-n." The orange haired woman winks moving her index finger in front of her lips like she was spelling a very important secret.

"But isn't it a bar?" Orihime's lips broke the seal of Rangiku's finger making her to sigh.

"That's right, this is the place where the fun begins so follow my lead and don't walk too far from me." Without further complains the two enters the building.

A strong smell of alcohol is feeling in the air. The girl isn't used to it, so she tries the best to get used to it as fast as she can. Orihime's impressed of how happy the alcohol makes the people. Is it the key of happiness?

"Ran, why are you here?" A man with white hair asks. Rankigu's face instantly changes from her usual happy face in a sad one.

"Since you are here, should not I? Or this is a place reserved only for men?" The woman's voice is sarcastic, her eyes are following all the women what are trying to 'get along' well with the clients.

"Ran, you know what I mean. Don't you have a mission?" His attempt of dragging Rangiku again wins a smile on her face.

"Well, in fact I do. And you know what, Gin? My mission is to have fun and I'm not kidding. Now, if you can excuse us, this 2 girls want to party hard. See ya." Rangiku ignores the man's attempts to take her hand and walks with Orihime in any other direction.

"Seeing Rangiku mad, what a rare sight." A dark haired man interferes right before the woman was to bump in a wall.

"Hisagi, the man I was looking for. Hime, let me introduce, this is Hisagi the lieutenant of the 9th division and my dear friend. If you want someone to have fun when I'm not around, he's your guy." Hisagi laughs ashamed at his friend introduction.

"Don't listen to all she says. Sit down and let me treat you." The man invites the 2 women. "So why are you here?"

"What's that question? To party till down, of course. So let's start." Rangiku doesn't wait for the invitation of the others so she starts to drink the first cup of wine. Orihime has time just to touch a cup before the older woman drinks another 3.

"Don't be scared, just have fun. No one will harm you." Hisagi assures Orihime when he sees that she's uncomfortable. The girl is not still fully convinced, but since Unohana said to listen to Rangiku, well, no one died trying, isn't it?

*2 hours later*

To be honest, for Orihime the first cup of wine was really sour and not tasty. But after she drank 5 she cannot say anymore how it tastes like.

"And he asked me why I'm here, like he wasn't here too. Do you believe it?" Rankigu tries to vent her anger on Hisagi. From what the girl has understood Rankigu likes Gin since childhood and the feelings seems to be mutual but no one said it yet. He cares about her well being, but he's here probably because some stuff regarding shinigami, but even though, for Orihime the idea of a person caring for another was one of the best gifts in the world.

"What the hell is this mess?" Another man appears, but the girl is unable to tell who this person was.

"Ichigo, you did take your sweat time. Sit down and have a drink." Hisagi invites Ichigo despite his malicious comment.

"Tsk… I understand you 2 being drunk, but why the hell did you take her too?" The orange haired man asks pissed feeling like he would need to take care of the situation pretty soon.

"You too? For your information a girl can be able to have as much fun as a man. Hmph…" Rankigu answers angry.

"Did she have again problems with Gin?"Hisagi nods. "Take my advice. Don't drag other persons in your shit, because I don't want to be part of all of your shit. Got it?"

"Captain Kurosaki… I want to ask you a question. May I?" Orihime's voice is changed from what he remembers. The orange haired man couldn't remember if he sat voluntary near the girl or how did she get so close to him.

"What do you want?" Ichigo's feeling odd, and it was never a good prediction.

"Why… did you give… this to me?" The girl forces her words, moving one of her palms between her breasts and… taking out the rock that he had given to her. Instantly, Ichigo forces his right hand on hers putting the rock back in its place touching her soft chest.

"We're gonna to be back in a minute." The orange haired man says before he takes her under his arm and he shoumpoes themselves outside the bar. "Tell me. Why the fuck did you keep it in that place?" She loses her balance when he did let go of her all of sudden, making her chest to lay on his.

"I'm quite clumsy… so I put it… in the safest place." The look in her eyes is so serious that Ichigo loses his mind for a second looking at her, then he shakes his head returning to his usual self.

"Tsk… It's an amulet. It's the only thing what can suppress me when I get in my hollow form. It's the only one that I have so you better not lose it, and you should better change its place. "A chill crosses his body at the thought of Unohana knowing the place where Orihime keeps his valuable talisman.

"But… The yukata doesn't have any pockets… and this is the only place where I can keep it… Do you see?" A girl flashing her big breast wasn't something that Ichigo would guess even in a million of years, so he couldn't control his physical reaction letting a small trail of blood to roll on his chin.

"Tsk… Stop it." Luckily, he manages to cover her chest before some pervert thoughts may occur in his head. "Can't you act like a normal person for once?" She looks at him angrily, then she seems like she wants to say something, but she ends falling asleep in his arms. He is puzzled, he cannot understand how she thinks or is it all the reaction of the alcohol?

"Ichigo, can you send Rangiku at the base?" Hisagi shouts interrupting the thoughts of the orange man. Ichigo sights, he had already know when he saw the 3 of them together that something like this may occur, but… Let's hope that Gin will not be in such a bad mood when he will hear that he had walked home his precious woman.

Ichigo takes the 2 women under his arms and he shumpoes to improvised barracks for the investigation. When he arrives and he safely delivers Rankigu to her room colleague, he realizes that he doesn't know where Orihime will sleep. The space in the room was pretty small so he couldn't just push her in a random room. The most of the barracks are full with the shinigamies what lost their consciousness during the investigation so the only place available would be… his room.

It was quite late when Ichigo arrived so he hoped that she wouldn't be mad when she will find out that they will sleep in the same room.

*early in the morning*

The girl opens her eyes feeling that her stomach really aches. She wants to go for the jar of medicines next to her bed to take a pill, in order to keep all of her energy to save people, but she can feel the jar but not its cover? When she turns her head she discovers that Ichigo's covering his forehead, probably trying to calm himself down, while she's doing him a handjob?

Orihime jumps as fast as she can from the bed hurting her butt, but she's still surprised of why Ichigo's in her room, but wait… This is not her room at all.

"Tsk… You don't cease to surprise me. Judging from your reaction you don't remember anything from yesterday, do you?" She shakes her head secretly hoping that this is all a bad dream. "Huh… You're killing me with so much energy so early in the morning." Ichigo's yukata falls from his shoulders revealing his well build abdomen. "I don't know all the details, but you got drunk with Rangiku and Hisagi. Hisagi told me that you are assigned to this investigation starting today too, and since there were not any rooms available I let you sleep here. "Her face becomes redder and redder what is making him to become amused. "Tsk… You were moving so much in the bed last night. I swear, I slept with a bunch of girls but none of them had such a big chest. What do you eat in the morning?" His joke seems to hurt her feeling because she suddenly hides her face. He moves himself next to her, lowering his body at her level. If making her so depressed would influence her powers then he would feel guilty for not letting her to safe so many of his comrades. "Tsk… Don't believe all I say. If it will make you to feel better, I can let you sleep with me tonight too. So stop being so down, otherwise I may change my mind." He touches her shoulder trying to help her get up, but… her stomach couldn't handle and it let it go on his chest, relieving its pain.

"Kami, I'm so sorry." The sensation of empty stomach somehow wakes Orihime from her imagination and she goes to look for a piece of cloth and some water. She can feel his spiritual energy getting darker and darker in the mean time. After she finds the desired object she removes his yukata making him to remain in his boxer. Every piece of muscle on his body was perfectly build, if his energy wasn't so strong that it would cut the air she would allow herself to look better at him, but considering the situation… she starts to scrub his body. "I'm really sorry that you needed to take care of me and I didn't let you sleep well and um… other stuff. The blue haired man told me that it wasn't such a good idea to drink, but considering the fact that captain Unohana advised me to listen to Rangiku I had listened to her, but I didn't believe that I would end up causing so many problems. I'm not going to tell anyone about our child so rest assured." He remains mute during her speech, he wasn't interested in any excuses, he couldn't care at all who is that little blue thing, but the fact that shocked him the most was that she had mentioned a baby?

"Tsk… Tell me… How the hell could we make a baby?" He's pissed, he wanted to be nice for once, why should she test his limits.

"Umm… You know when a man and a woman sleep together… and there is blood on the bed… so… um… "She's so ashamed to even breath in the same room as him, it was her first time and she wanted it to be with someone that she really loves, but… she could feel a fist knocking gently her head.

"We did nothing. I didn't touch you. The hell! Do you believe that I'm so desperate to force myself on someone that is not even conscious?" She looks at him puzzled, but then she remembers about the rock.

"Why would you give me that rock?" On the list of the things of what Ichigo hated the most on the first places was to speak for nothing. So he decides to scratch the back of his neck as his last barrier before he would lose his mind.

"It's the second time when you compare my amulet with a rock. The only thing for what I didn't kill you already is that if I will transform in my hollow form, this amulet can protect you and revert me to my usual self. If you'll be protected you will be able to heal any shinigami that I would have hurt."He's feeling exhausted consuming so much energy in the morning for nothing. She opens her mouth trying to say something in return, but he seals her lips with his. "You sleep. I'll need all of my energy." Without further notice Ichigo dragged Orihime back to the bed. She was feeling uncomfortable trying to sleep next to an almost naked man.

**Next chapter : Ishida's jealousy. A trace of the past**

**A.N. Hello guys, I hope you had a very happy Valentine's day ****J**

**The next update of this story will be on Wednesday in the best case, if not it might take me till Saturday, Sunday.**

**Don't forget to let a review of your opinion of this chapter. It will help me to boost my moral to post the chapter faster.**

**Please review/follow/favorite it.**

** Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210**


	4. Chapter 4

**~ Chapter 3 : Ishida's jealousy. A trace of the past ~**

"Ichigo, get up, Rangiku might have found something." Reiji knocks at Ichigo's door but no response so far. "Damn man, you was the one what was rambling about 'solving this fucking case, getting drunk and fucking till morning 2 days in a row' after this case is finished and now you don't want to move your lazy ass. I swear if I find you sleeping I'm going to take all your clothes and let you run naked all over the place." Reiji waits again, no answer. He was sure that after Ichigo's last 'naked' experience won't dare to try Reiji's words but as far as it seemed for the red haired man, the orange haired man wanted to play hard to get. "You asked for it." Reiji breaks the lock letting himself it, but when he found Orihime on Ichigo's almost naked body he regretted his decision and he leaves without further words.

In the meantime Orihime was deadly ashamed. When Ichigo woke up he had his hand tangled in her hair. She wanted to help him, but in the end she knocked him unconsciously. When Reiji was talking she was worried that Ichigo might get punished so she got on him in order to do resurrect him by pressing her hands on his chest, but she had never imagined that Reiji would break the lock in that moment misunderstanding the situation.

Now, she's having literally no idea, but she can feel something growing hard from under the sheet.

"Tsh… I really like being 'served' early in the morning, but today I have a busy day, so you'd better keep all your wishes for tonight. Now move." Ichigo talks in his addictive manner, but after that he asks Orihime to move away. His request seems to be incomprehensible so in order to avoid to be annoyed he simply grabbed her ass and moved her next to him, then he got up and went to the bathroom.

When he's washing his face he's recalling the true events of this morning. He has woken up before her and he could feel her fragile body searching for the protection of his body, and he could have seen that one of his arms curled around her waist during their sleep. It was the first time that Ichigo felt the urge to not let her go, to simply stay like this and smell the scent of her body.

The color of her hair mesmerized him making him to want to feel its softness with his free hand, but… His hand got somehow blocked in her hair. When he was trying to release himself she had woken her up and he made the excuse that she moved so much that his hand got blocked, but as a punishment from God her movements didn't block him, but it made him become unconscious.

Now, as water is dripping from his face, he's trying to calm himself down, despite the fact that its member was proposing to do other this with the girl.

"Did Reiji come here?" He asks from the bathroom massaging his temples. Orihime doesn't respond fast, she tries to overcome her shyness and in the same time to recall who Reiji was. "A man with red hair." Ichigo's words come like the answer of her thoughts.

"Yes, he came. He has said something about Rangiku finding a new lead." As the words escape from her mouth she could feel her heard equally lighter.

"What did you say?" The image of the drops of water dripping on his abdomen is hard not to take into consideration so some drops of blood came from the girl's nose but she was fast that he didn't observe it. "What are you waiting for?" His words wake her up from her sweet dream remembering her that she was here for work.

*5 minutes later*

Ichigo shumpoes to the place where Rangiku is assigned but in a lower place as to not make Orihime dizzy.

"Where were you? Gosh… I sent even Reiji to inform you, but even he is nowhere to find now. I swear, I cannot ever find you neither for party nor for business." The woman sighs, last night when she invited Ichigo to join her and Hisagi he said no, but when Hisagi asked he agreed.

"Tsk… Just say why did you call me here?." Ichigo says being never in the mood to be scolded.

"Geez, you're grumpier than an old man. But coming back to the topic, tell me what do you see?" Rangiku changes the topic when her remark annoys Ichigo, pointing at a path?

"Don't tell me that you asked me here just because you thought this is the escape route of the creature. I told you before that this is not the last place where I fought with it. What the hell are you trying to show me next? A pit maybe? And you're probably going to tell me that he was hiding there all the time under our nose laughing at us, don't you?" Ichigo's nerves are not a place where you cannot easily to reach for, but the moment when you reach that destination, well, good luck.

"Stop being such a hard rock, geez." Rangiku complains hitting Ichigo's head. "If I wanted to call you just for nothing I wouldn't call all these people." Her gesture makes him even angrier, but the woman smile the time is perfect. "But there is a trick about my question, thank you very much for helping me. Now look again at the path." The man is almost ready to go, but when he looks again at the path he can see some small traces, of the size of a little child.

"How the hell did you do that?" Ichigo asks perplex.

"I did nothing." Rangiku smiles, if she can annoy him a little more then it may all be solved.

"The hell. There was nothing when I looked at it before now it is. Are you trying to make me look like an idiot?" The man's spiritual energy excels to the point where it was hard to bear even for Rangiku.

"Please calm down now, I will explain." The woman isn't afraid about herself, because she knows very well her limit, the person about what she was worried about was Orihime because she was sweating hard. "The reason why I called you here is because you have the biggest amount of spiritual energy than anyone of us. During our morning research an apprentice what didn't know to control yet so good its spiritual energy, instead of doing a spell he simply emanated more spiritual energy, like you do always when you get angry, and the earth, I believe, somehow absorbed this energy and it showed a piece of a trace glowing. Then I tried with some of my men to use our spiritual energy in order to display more traces, but the best we managed to display just 2. Then, I remembered about you and that you are an almost an infinite source of energy so I asked Reiji to get you here to annoy you to get more information about this discovery. What do you believe now? Did I call you 'just for nothing'?" Rankingu voice is proud, but in the same time she simply loves to nag Ichigo.

"Tsk… Don't be over the moon that you're useful every now and then. Now that we got this path what do you propose? The thing with what I fought isn't a 4 years old kid." Ichigo's words shatter Rankigu sweet believe that this might be over so easily.

"Mmm… Maybe, Hime-chan can analyze these traces and find if they are related to your creature." To be honest, Rangiku is just sad so she rambles the first thing what crosses her mind.

"Tsk… Now you're going to use her like some sort of a detector to trace the best. You should better let her take care of the apprentices while we should call Mayuri." Ichigo is reluctant because it's already noon they have made such a big progress and now Rangiku wanted to destroy it all with an idea.

"Don't tell me that you prefer to bring here that strange man rather than to let our sweet Hime to try." The woman's remark hit Ichigo in his soft point. Well, indeed, after the fight Mayuri did some experiments on Ichigo to know more about the incident, but they were so horrible that he doesn't want to speak about them ever.

"I don't want to bring that crazy one here, but our apprentices are as important as understanding about these traces. You know very well if there were more options I wouldn't choose him." Orihime is looking at Ichigo's eyes what seemed to show his grievance. While the two were speaking she had already asked her fairies about if she can be of any use for this topic but there was no guarantee that she can do what she was intending too.

"I can try it." Orihime offers herself as a volunteer wanting to ease the situation.

"Tsh… This isn't about trying, this is about succeeding. We have lost already too much dealing with this so don't force yourself. This is nothing related to healing." His words hurt Orihime. If he's seeing her like just a healing machine he deceives himself bitterly.

"Soten Kisshun" Orihime commands to her fairies surrounding a trace.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Ichigo takes her hand forcing her to look at him in the eyes.

"My Soten Kisshun despite the fact of returning the injured person to an earlier state, effectively healing all wounds, it reverses time. So, I'm going to reverse time in a way or in another in order to obtain some sort of information. I'm using just a trace so it will not be any problem so captain Mayuri can analyze the others if I fail." Her eyes are shining with confidence. Ichigo will not recognize, but she seemed somehow interesting in that moment.

"Tsk… Do as you please, but if you fail, don't ask for another chance." The girl smiles, somehow, from the moment she met him she keeps having just one chance to prove herself.

"Don't regret when I will do so." Her brightness somehow manages to master his darkness. Somehow, she seems to be the sun what scares away the dark clouds on his sky.

Letting aside Ichigo and all the other persons, her task wasn't at all easily. Despite the fact that she tried to seem that she can handle the situation she doesn't know for sure how. It was the first time when she needed to obtain the information about the thing what have produced a trace. If she tries to nullify the time then the earth will have no trace.

The only thing what made her to take this decision was given by the fact that the traces were not always present, just in the situation when spiritual energy was emanated, so maybe if she can nullify the mechanism what triggers the apparition of the trace, maybe it might give her a hint.

Even if the idea seems to be somewhat simple in reality it wasn't so. Orihime needs to concentrate on the energies what come from the trace. There were of many colors (every shinigami has a different color for his or her spiritual energy), but there was one and only one of color red and somehow its energy was strange.

Ayame encourages Orihime that that energy was the one of the creature, so Tsubaki needed to cut the others. When the other energies were cut and the red one was the only one a very powerful light knocked the girl. She falls in Ichigo's arms.

"Tsk… don't dare you die on me." He's trying to make a joke, but considering the fact that he's feeling no pulse from her…

"Hehe… Look at the ground." Her voice begins to have power again, but Ichigo was somewhat worried that he didn't move his eyes from her.

"Wow… it's so amazing… It's an 'y' on the ground. Look Ichigo!" Feeling her pulse going back to normal, the orange haired captain accepts the suggestion and looks on the ground, indeed a letter was imprinted.

"I believe that this is not a way of escape, that this is a message. But… I need to see all the traces in order to uncover the message." Hearing Orihime's words all eyes are looking at Ichigo.

"Tsk… Don't try to annoy me. I will emanate my energy willingly." The girl was still in his arms so he needed to cover her with his energy in order to not hit her directly. Despite the fact that most of the people would call Ichigo's spiritual energy warm right now she could feel its warmth. Ichigo emanated his energy again and again but only 6 traces could be uncovered. "Your turn." Ichigo lets her go, but his energy remained. Orihime's looking at him amazed seeing that he uses his energy in order to protect her.

The girl finished her task without to see the effects like the first time. Her heart's beating faster when his energy fades away, it was a mixture of warmth and cold.

"Huh… 'Get away'. It seems like the lead died before it could lead us anywhere." Rangiku sights.

"No, not at all. I believe that there are at least 2 creatures." Orihime believed that her discover was going to make them happy but it seems that it made them only to be more concerned.

"What does it makes you to say so?" The man tries to understand the situation.

"Ummm…. I don't know if you will consider it a valid point of view, but the little blue man warned me about the differences in the energy. Despite the fact that for me and Ayame the energy was the same, this energy comparing with the energy of the shinigami what were hurt was different, it was warmer. So, I believe that this creature is trying to warn us, maybe to help us and it's hiding somewhere not too far away from here. I believe that it knew that you're going to search here today so it played with the energy of the apprentice in order to show us that we're getting closer to the answer, but it would be too dangerous to find it now… "The girl's looking right and left. Her words were probably hard to believe, but she really thinks that this is what had happened.

Ichigo's scratching the back of his neck. Her world is simply not easily to be understood by 'normal' people, despite of the fact that everyone has their specific issues. He was the one having the most of the authority from the present people so he needed to take a decision. But who will believe him that there were now more creature because a fucking blue man was talking inside Orihime's head with fucking fairies that nobody sees.

"Geez, what is with this silence? If there is one, if there is two is really that important? Of course not, but if there is even one of them what wants to help us isn't it big news? Don't look so down, even if the situation is not as good as we believed, an ally is as precious as gold. Plus, let's be honest, is really none of you eager to see how Ichigo's going to explain about of our 'special' ally?" Rangiku winks, trying to lift up the mood. It wasn't easy to be her, maybe Toshiro will appreciate it considering that the pay is going to be soon.

"Tsh… Don't do any strange bets like the last time." Ichigo felt a shiver remembering the fact that Rangiku abducted a drunk Yoruichi in his room and later he needed to write a 2 thousand pages because of his 'immoral' behavior.

"Don't be so sad, Ichigo. I'll let Kenpachi this time. I heard that his 'sword' is so long that I'm sure that he will be able to satisfy you." All of the people present except of Orihime and Ichigo are laughing at Rangiku joke, even Ichigo smirked scratching the back of his neck, it's good to lift the moral of the men from time to time.

Clearing the situation, everyone goes back to the improvised barracks, Ichigo being the one in charge to escort Orihime in the place designed for shinigamies that are hurt. The orange haired man was surprised to see Reiji there with Ishida. Ishida asks Ichigo for a 'talk'going a little far away from where the girl was.

The guys seems to have a fight, but the orange haired girl believes that this was their way of communicating with other, not remembering a time when she got to see them speaking normally. Orihime healed about 10 shinigamies when a man voice was heard in near her.

"Did you see Ichigo somewhere?" The dark haired man asks in a solemn manner.

"Captain Byakuya…" The girl shakes. "He was here some time ago. May I help you with something?" Even if Byakuya wasn't so nice to her in that night, she doesn't feel threatened by his presence.

"I'm here for the daily report of the investigation. My sister isn't feeling well so I took over her duty in order to speed her recovery." Orihime was touched by his kind hearted decision.

"Your sister is so lucky, but I believe that you need to wait a little more for the report, it might be done even tomorrow since we found a new lead today and it didn't pass so much time since when we got back." Some powerful noise is being heard and Ishida's being send into a near tree. Orihme's hiding her face at the sight. Can the creature be around? Byakuya had already taken his zampakutou ready for the enemy, but they were surprised to see Ichigo?

"What is the meaning of this situation?" Byakuya retreats his weapon walking next to the 2.

"I and Inoue-san was asked to help the investigation, she has left early by the command of our captain, but when I tried to search for her, last night, I couldn't find her anywhere. This noon, I heard from your lieutenant that she had slept with Ichigo and when I spoke with him to inform him that Inoue-san will sleep with me starting tonight he said that it will never happen." Ichigo hit his face with one of his palms hearing Ishida's comments.

"Don't listen to this incurable virgin. If you can see those 4 sticks with a blanket above, there is ''his place'' where he wanted to sleep with Inoue. I told him that even the stupidest creature wouldn't choose that place for its nest, but he simply doesn't get it. Plus, I'm not sure that he can make the difference between sleep and sex with a woman, and I informed him that I and Inoue agreed that she will sleep with me tonight too." Saying the last words, a smirk imprinted on Ichigo's lips making Ishida increasing angrily.

"Why don't you sleep both outside and let Inoue-san inside?" Byakuya logic is quite simple and real, but he may not be so familiar with the history of the two.

"I believe that you don't remember the last time when we were forced to do so and I ended to follow Ishida in my hollow form because he didn't want to turn off the light and he was pestering me with Mr. the fuck know how it's called stuff animal in all Seireitrei. Since then, it's like an unwritten rule that we don't sleep in the same room, so this is not a valid solution." Ishida wanted to fight back because the animal's name is Mr. Fluffy, but maybe in this way by saying nothing he can tell Orihime that all what Ichigo said was a lie.

"Why don't you let Inoue to sleep in my division?" Byakuya pondered his words before he has spoken. It's true that except Rukia no other woman was welcomed in the division, maybe just in special occasion for a couple of hours Byakuya being forced by the main capitan, but having him to take a decision just by himself… It makes Ichigo to wonder it maybe Byakuya could have a thing for Orihime too.

"What do you want?" Ichigo asks Orihime what till now didn't say a word. She didn't like how easily the men associated her with the sleep term, but… she doesn't want to bother Ichigo, plus she doesn't understand that feeling when he protected her. Ishida was proposing her a room just for herself, why was it so hard to say yes to Byakuya when this solution might solve the problems…

"Of course she does!" Rangiku jumps from a bush nearby and with a camera in her hand. The woman takes a piece of paper between her big breasts and she gives her to Orihime. "I know I didn't manage to tell you this, but since you are a woman you take part of woman shinigami association. We usually hide in the rooms of Byakuya's division, but who would not, he has a freaking pool. So as a woman is your duty to take this map and to color in all the places where we could hide during these meetings. My dear, Hime, this is not a request from me personally, it's a request of all the women in Seireitei, so please don't let us down." The woman whispers to Orihime then he takes her leave like she never came.

"What did she say?" Ichigo wants to take the piece of paper but the girl hides it at her back.

"Nothing important, I'm going to sleep in captain Byakuya division starting today. Is it ok?" Ichigo's a little annoyed by her decision, but considering the fact that Rangiku was involved in taking this decision, it would mean probably more problems for the dark haired captain.

"Who do I look like? Your husband? Tsk… You're free to do as you please, but don't forget your duties." Orihime would like for Ichigo to request her to stay, somewhere deep in her heart, but as he's ok with this she will accomplish her mission as a shinigami woman.

After some time Byakuya, Reiji and Orihime arrive at the 6th division.

"I would not believe that you walk all this way daily, Reiji-kun." Indeed the distance between the researching place and the 6th division wasn't so big, but it takes 15 minutes of shunpo at a medium speed.

"It's not a big problem. Starting tomorrow I will accompany you to the research place." The lieutenant didn't know how to act considering the fact that she was the first woman that his captain invited in. If he chose the bad words, cleaning the bathrooms will be the least of his worries.

"I'll be in your care." The orange haired girl words didn't mean a bad thing, but Reiji could feel a shiver when Byakuya touched the handle of its sword.

"Reiji, look after Rukia till I will show Inoue around. She had a fever when I left so make her a chamomile tea." His command was the perfect moment for the read head to escape the uncomfortable situation. "If you want to follow me." Byakuya invites politely the girl in his division. If it was a matter of grace and well behavior Byakuya will not have any competitors, but somehow the girl seemed to be interested of… other things.

"There is no one living here? What kind of materials are the walls? Is this a pantry?" And the orange haired girl questions keep flowing like that. When Byakuya was busy explaining something she would note the place on the map and so goes on till they reached her room.

"The next room of yours is mine. Feel free to come to me if you have any problems. I will inform someone to send you the dinner. Now, if you excuse me, I have other tasks to attend." Orihime simply nodded then the man took his leave.

When she entered her room she was amazed. It wasn't so fancy like her last room, but this room was so bright and spacious. The wall separating her room from outside was literally made of glass and there she could see a beautiful garden. Her bed was put in the middle of the room as to see the first thing when she goes to sleep or when she wakes up.

"Reiji, are you sure that this is her?" A voice comes from above? The girl didn't know what to do. She decided to pretend that she hears nothing for now.

"I'm positive. There is no other pair of tits like this. Ouch… Rukia." The intruders couldn't see Orihime's reaction of hiding her chest because they were arguing.

"It's your own fault. You're always thinking about tits. You should know that smaller tits are even more fascinating than bigger one." Orihime wants to leave the room, but Byakuya opens the door silently making her a sign to not say a word.

"I'm a man, Rukia. What's beautiful even God likes. Why do you believe your brother…."

"Cough… Cough…" The captain coughs in order to stop Reiji to say something that he should not. "I believe that I didn't instruct any of you to climb where you shouldn't. I give you exactly 5 seconds to come here and give to Inoue proper apologies. 1… 2… 3…. "

"We're here. We're right here." The both mutter at unison. Sorry for the intrusion." The girl was taken back about the fact that Byakuya made even his beloved sister to say sorry to her, that it took Orihime some seconds before she could reply that they don't need to say anything.

"Go back to you room, Rukia. Reiji, tomorrow you will clean the ventilation. Dismissed." The punishments of the 2 weren't as big as they expected so they left as fast as they could before the captain could change his mind.

"Your sister resembles very much of your wife. Are they related?" It was a known story of his and Hisana, but it was one what was hard to say for him.

"Yes, my wife and Rukia are related by blood. I adopted her after my wife died. Usually is well behaved, I don't know what Reiji told her to do such a disgraceful thing, but you have my apologies, I will not let anything similar to happen." Someone knocks at the door. "It seems like the dinner arrived. Have a good meal, if anything upsets you go to my room." The man what delivered the food was mesmerized by her beauty that he had almost dropped the food at the sight of her.

Orihime helped him, she even try to invite him to join her but he declined. Beeing alone the girl took out the piece of paper again. On its back was written something, but she didn't have the time to read it till now. It was written that Rangiku was wanting to meet Orihime outside at midnight.

The girl was surprised. They needed the information so much that they couldn't wait till tomorrow morning? Since she was new, it was obvious that there were things that she didn't know yet so… She started to eat the good food in front of her. The meal was good, probably the best in the Soul Society, but it started to rain.

In general, the shinigamies don't have memories of their past life, and if they have their memories are usually erased in order to not get mad about their past. Orihime is not a good liar, but she had lied about not remembering her past life.

She would never trade her memories of her brother and all the hardships that she endured. The only thing that she would want to forget was her death, what was an ugly one. But now she was remembering the accident of her brother and how they were forced to part ways.

It was hard since she arrived in Soul Society to remember the anniversary of its death, because the flow of time was different and she didn't have any calendar, but judging the time when she first arrived and the actual time it was a great probability that today it was the day.

Rainy days in Soul Society were rarely than raining in Desert so she was feeling somewhat linked with him. The girl's shivering when during lightning she could see the image of her brother. She walked fast at the window to see a trace of a palm on it. She was excited, but worried. She had tried to find him ever since she arrived but no clue, and now all of sudden he appears at her window?

She keeps looking on the window, but just branches hits it and only strange shadows in the distance, no sight of her brother. Tears came down on her cheeks, was it just an illusion? Why must an illusion to be so sweet? The light goes off, but her eyes were still searching for him.

"Are you ok?" The girl could feel a warm palm on her shoulder, making her to move away. After she's calming a little down she's looking up to see Byakuya's worried eyes.

"Hai. I just don't like the stormy nights." Her voice was fragile revealing the fact that she was crying not too long ago.

"I don't like them eighter." Byakuya confesses. "The day when she died was a stormy night too, so every stormy night I get myself busy with work in order to not remember about that day." He isn't expecting her to confess about her fears too, he was just feeling safe to confide in her.

"I lost someone important too, in a stormy night. I believed that I had the chance to see him again, but it seems that it was just my wishful thinking. Why need the dear ones to part the ways with us?" Byakuya mistook her talking about someone that she loved as a lover not as a brother. The kimono slipped from her right shoulder, the shining in her eyes seems somewhat erotic to him.

Even if he cannot understand her at the level that he would like to, he feels an attraction to her, a link what he didn't feel ever since Hisana. Without thinking, he bends down having the feeling that he may forget Hisana next to Orihime.

Orihime is shocked when his tongue tries to search its place between her lips but she doesn't respond to his intention. She doesn't feel the same how she felt when Ichigo kissed her. The man has much more dignity than to force on her, even if crossed his limits involuntary. If he wants to be with her he need to do it right, to court her.

"I'm sorry for my gesture. I hope you have a good night." He doesn't want her to feel forced or constrained to answer to his feelings so he will take his time.

Till the next morning Orihime couldn't sleep. She was still thinking about Sora and she was feeling guilty of her approach with Byakuya. She didn't hear the guy what prepared her breakfast, but all the servants believed that she was Byakuya's future wife considering the fact that Byakuya invited her in and she visited her pretty often even at night, so he didn't question her mood.

When she heard knocks in the door, it was already late because Reiji was there. She couldn't choose anymore anything from the gorgeous breakfast and she want to accompany Reiji to work. They didn't change any words other than the greetings. Reiji has heard too about Byakuya's night visit and judging from her eyes… may his captain have so much energy to keep a woman awake till morning? The man made himself a mental note to ask his captain the recipe of such vigor if he will find him in a good mood.

The way for today researching place was quite close so they didn't even need to shunpo to get there. It was a strange researching place if somebody would ask Reiji. What kind of creature will choose his hiding place in an orchard?

"Hime, Hime, over here!" Rangiku shouts at Orihime. The older woman was the only one who arrived so far. "Reiji go back to the barracks and help Ishida with something."

"What the fuck wants so early?" The red haired man mutters in disbelief.

"I don't know. Since he and Ichigo had that fight no one can understand him. He said that you're the only one that understands him. So good luck, buddy. "Rangiku literally kicks Reiji ass. "One kick in the ass, one step forward or so does it say. Don't look at me like that Hime, he deserves it. Now, tell me, how was your night with Byakuya?" Orihime's heart hurt seeing Reiji being kicked because Rangiku wanted to talk with her.

"Ok." The girl didn't want to detail so she gave the woman the updated map.

"Girl, don't say just ok with me." If there was a queen for wanting the juicy details it was no one than Rangiku."You have as big dark circles as a black hole. Now, tell me what did happen or otherwise I'm going to make you do so." Rankigu have her finger prepared for the tickling of the day, but the girl surrenders knowing that in a way or in another the woman will know.

"Byakuya kissed me." Orihime whispers to the woman ear, but the news were so big that it shocked Rangiku.

"Byakuya kissed you? Oh my gosh… Tell me all the details. Did he use his tongue? Was it just a good night kiss, sort of? Ouch…" The attempts of the woman to know more about the kiss were rewarded with an apple in the head.

"You cannot shut up even at this hour." Ichigo says grumpy descending from the tree. "Last night you came to my room with a bottle of alcohol and you didn't want to leave until you finished it. After that you kept rambling shits about Gin and about other shits and I couldn't move you away. I swear you women have a mysterious ability to weight either as much as a feather or as much as an elephant." The man didn't believe that he will be woken up with the news that Byakuya did a move on Orihime. What the hell do these guys see at her? But he feels angry that someone touched his 'property'.

"Let me say you a thing, kitty." Ichigo says leaning his face at the level of Orihime's face."I don't like when others touch my property." After he finishes to say these words, Ichigo kisses her passionally. The girl answers to his kiss involuntary, every inch of her body was feeling like melting under his touch. Ichigo didn't know what to believe about their chemistry, did he only desire her body or there was something more? After he believes that he had removed any trace of Byakuya's lips, he's venting his frustration in her neck's skin leaving her a big sign. "See you around." Ichigo says with a smirk on his face. He was really interested to see if the girl can get away from him.

**Next chapter : The misunderstanding grows. Sora?**

**A.N. Hello guys, I hope you had a beautiful week. :)**

**This update of this story will be resumed at once a week. My schedule is pretty messy. I'm going to college and work and I'm meeting with my boyfriend too. So something like since 7 am till 9 pm since Monday to Friday is allocated with things that I need to do. Plus this semester as far as I heard is the most difficult one, I have some project to do and other homework so I hope to find the time in the weekend to write and update this story. For example this chapter took me 8 hours to write.**

**The next update of this story will be on the next weekend in the best case. This chapter will be maybe longer than this and it's possible to be finished in 2-3 updates I think. I made this chapter bigger to be worth, in the least pleasant case, and for the next week update, even if I will do my best to update this.**

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04 for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04 for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep for letting me an review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Don't forget to let a review of your opinion of this chapter. **

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210**


	5. Chapter 5

**~ Chapter 4 : The misunderstanding grows. Sora? ~**

**-part 1-**

"Oh, Gosh… I cannot believe that neither Ishida, nor Byakuya, even Ichigo couldn't think that you have missed your breakfast in order to bring you some goodies. I swear, men become more and more carefree as the days go by." The woman is disturbed of the behavior of the specified men, that she didn't took into consideration the apple in her hand what became apple puree.

"Please, calm down, Rangiku-san. Byakuya have asked someone to bring an amazing breakfast, but I was daydreaming and I forgot. But why should they be concerned about my food?" If the older woman could have the heart, she could beat some sense into Orihime, but this would probably easy the way of the 3 men and that's something what will kill the fun.

"Hime, Hime… Take my advice. When a man pays you attention, he needs to pay for more than this, because girl… your time is not for free." The woman stops from lecturing, not wanting to enter, yet, in so much detail, then she gives the girl the fruits what were still intact."Try to eat these for now, the rest may come soon, and I have a bad feeling that this will be not such a good day."

Orihime takes the advice and she starts eating the fruits. Rangiku is looking at her with a melancholic expression on her face remembering of her youth. Then she was so carefree, concerning herself just with what she could eat, now it was all complicated and her most desired dreams seems to be unreachable.

"What is your story and Gin's?" The girl asks curious while eating her meal. The woman was shocked by the question, but well, it's nice to remember sweet memories from time to time.

"Well… It's a dusty story. I was with a band of little thieves since I remember. We have done nasty things in order to get some food to survive. One day, it wasn't so much food… So we started to die, because of hunger which made us to do more reckless things. I was the only survivor. It was a day of winter when I collapsed in the snow, I have not eaten a thing for a moth I believe. Gosh, I was so skinny that even the passers thought I had an illness, but that was the fate of many people, since the village in what I had lived it wasn't so rich. And then he came… It's embarrassing but back then he seemed like an angel to me with his shiny grey hair. I swear I will kill you if you tell him that I've said that. And he offered to me dried persimmons, telling me that I have spiritual energy. Since then he had visited me often, the dried persimmon became our favorite food. But I have never felt that we could be more, it's strange, it's like he has a lock on his heart. It didn't matter how long did I wait for him without knowing where he was going, it didn't matter that I wasn't afraid of his dark side, it didn't matter that I became a shinigami alongside him in order to be by his side. Huh… Take my advice. The moment when you love, that's the first moment when you experience true incurable pain, so take care, Hime. Gosh, stop crying." The woman is surprised to see that Orihime was crying hard at the story. It was her mistake that she was incurable in love with her childhood friend, so she shouldn't be bothered.

"But… but… it's so sad. I didn't believe that Ichimaru-san can be like this." The girl is feeling a little ashamed when she remembers that she thought that Rangiku's reaction when they were at a bar was a little exaggerate, but now knowing her story… Orihime's heart was crying for her.

"Stop being so silly, even if he acts like this I know he cares about me, so don't dramatize. I know what can lift your mood. I didn't tell you about the mobile phones."

"Mobile phone?" The girl is asking surprised. She didn't believe that shinigami would have mobile phones. It seemed pretty unrealistic to believe that they would have signal, without taking into consideration the internet connection.

"Yes, silly. Like this." Rangiku takes out a pink one. It wasn't the brand new edition, but it was somehow usable. "So, you know that I told you about the shinigami women's organization. Now I'm going to teach you something cool. So with this phone you can access 'Hot bitches gossips' site." The girl is looking confused seeing that Rangiku's words didn't match the webpage title. "I know it might seems strange, but, technically we don't have phones here, not talking about signal and some IT things that I'm not so good about, so Nemu, Mayuri's 'daughter' made all of these possible. God bless her, because before it was so hard to exchange papers with the gossips. And it basically connects with something from Mayuri's lab, and due to some updates, he could discover this site having the name what I told you so we needed to call it shinigami women's organization news in order to not be found by his filters. Pretty boring, right? So on this site, we write all the juicy gossips with whom we enter in contact. " The girl looks at the woman scrolling, indeed there were a lot of gossips, some of them were really hard to process. One of them was Orihime staying at Byakuya's division, what was not so well received, and it seems that Rangiku commented on the post, telling the others about Orihime and Byakuya's kiss and now the topic was even hotter. "I tell you Hime, there was no woman as famous as you since a shinigami woman came. You can take my phone." The girl wants to decline the gift, not wanting to let Rangiku without any. Her reaction amuses the older woman. "Hime, I have another 3. Maybe you don't know yet, but I'm the person who has the most mobile phones. Toshiro, simply, likes to take my phone every time I'm fooling around so that's how I come with the perfect number of 4 phones. But have no worry, it was a long time ago since he confiscated me any so I can teach you the trick later."

The girl sighs. Orihime has never wanted to attract any attention, all she wants is to help people and to have a place where she can belong.

"Yo… Rangiku, why did you lie to me? Ishida had nothing to tell me, but when he saw me he kept rambling about shits. I swear, I have broken my eardrums in order to not hear him, but the bastard somehow discovered and he took his time healing me and trying to convince me to ally against Ichigo. If this bastard could have been so easily killed, he wouldn't be where he is now." Reiji grits his teeth remembering how he lost the captain title in the battle with Ichigo. The bastard was simply impossible to be killed.

"Tsh… If your pussy tricks would have succeeded, then you would have worried about your safety. Because in no world if you try to point at the air saying that there's a good bitch there, it would not work, maybe if you were a virgin looser like Ishida." Ichigo says moving his shoulders still feeling uncomfortable because of the night spent outside. Ragiku took advantage of the moment to slip the phone between Orihime's breasts.

"So now that we're almost everybody here, can somebody explain, again, why this place is categorized as the most dangerous place to be researched?" Even if it might seem that Rangiku isn't so involved in the mission, she simply couldn't find something more threatening than a bee.

"Tsh… Don't let your eyes to trick your mind. This is the place where I lost the trace of the beast." The woman looks at him mistrustful, according the report the place where the last fight took place should be looking like a desert, not like a rich orchard how it looks in the present.

"Are you really sure that this is the place? As far as I know such trees cannot grow in one night." The woman involuntary touches the tree and she could find a dark energy coming from it. It was strange, why didn't she feel it before?

"Judging from your expression you don't doubt me anymore, do you?" The confident look on Ichigo's face matched Rangiku's fear, the energy from the footsteps wasn't so dark, even the hollow's energy. What was this thing… " Tsh… As far as I observed these days, it seems that this fake trees hide their energy in order to make living beings to eat their fruits. Once you taste it, it keeps sucking your energy till your body drains… The most horrible thing, from my perspective, is that the body of the dead is being transformed, too, into a tree. The majority of the trees that you see, they are our comrades what are forced to not rest in peace." The captain clinches his fist till blood, being annoyed of not being capable to break this malicious spell. "But you should not worry. As long as you didn't eat any, it shouldn't be a problem. What did your faces turn white… don't tell me…" Ichigo swallowed dry seeing the 2 women exchanging gazes, then he could see the pile of eaten fruits next to the girl's body.

"Ichigo, calm down. It's not that bad." Rangiku tries to calm Ichigo's down when she could feel that orange haired man was on the verge to do anything in order to help Orihime to get rid of the fruits from her stomach.

"The hell… It wasn't so bad if she took a bite. Damn, even if she ate an apple it wouldn't be as bad as it is. Tell me, if I didn't come any sooner you had helped her eat all this orchard, wouldn't you?" The man is so worried that he cannot look at the girl, he cannot believe that after he decided to give his most precious possession to her, then she was going to die because some sort of mysterious fruits.

"That was ugly even for you, Ichigo! Now, before you try to analyze how to make her get rid of all the food, can you look at her to see that she's FINE?!" All of the function of the body of the captain stopped for some seconds. Now that he's looking at her, he could see that she was fine. No sweating, no red skin, she wasn't getting any skinnier. Could it be that they were exchanging glances because Orihime was just fine? Ichigo would hit his head so hard to pass out in order to forget his previous reaction. "Geez, nothing would have happened if you would have brought Orihime something to eat. She has not eaten something since last night, so don't blame her because she doesn't work on empty stomach." Ichigo is still in shock of his reaction, it had passed a long time before he was afraid to lose someone. Could it be that he had developed feelings for her? No, it cannot. He swore that he will keep all of his heart for his family only. Ichigo's brain is starting to function normally when he heard that Rangiku expected him to bring a breakfast.

"The hell with breakfast… As far as I know my bankai's form is not a restaurant, so if she doesn't want to eat a hot 'banana milkshake' in the morning, don't come to me with such 'ideas'. Come on, Reiji. Let's try searching for some clues, before Rangiku will come with another request what Gin cannot 'satisfy'."

The woman is starting to mime how her nails would sink in Ichigo's throat to stop him to be so mischievous ever again, then she breaths out all of the bad air, walking back to Orihime.

"I know that I assumed that your fine, because I didn't wanted Ichigo to have such bad ideas like ripping your stomach. So… Are you really ok?" Rangiku has no medical skill, what is making her increasing worried for the girl, knowing that in case of an emergency… probably Ichigo would be the best prepared from their group.

"I'm fine, my stomach aches a little, but it is not something that endangers life. " Even after hearing the girl assurance, the woman still is feeling bad for proposing to eat fruits. "Do you think that Kurosaki-kun was mad at me?" The woman is sure that Ichigo was mad because he was afraid of her safety, but given the man sudden changes in attitude it would be better to tell her the he was not. "Look, Rangiku can you see that?" The girl points out at the root of a small tree, but nothing seems to look particularly different than a regular one.

"Hime, I don't believe I can see what you can see." The woman is feeling bad, could be this an effect of the fruits on her?

"Just wait a minute, and you will see it too." The sparkle in the eyes of the girl was so radiant that it blinded the woman's mind. "Rangiku-chan, look! Isn't is adorable?"

**back to Ichigo and Reiji**

"Do you really want to go to check on them?" Reiji asks not being familiar with this side of Ichigo.

"Yeah… After all I'm the leader of this operation, and I don't trust the abilities of Rangiku in the case on an emergency." Even if he was trying to avoid the girl even in the consideration of his words, it was clear for everyone else that he has a thing for her.

"What the hell!" Reiji couldn't hide his surprise when he saw the 2 women interacting with a gigantic blue chicken?

"Tsh… I let you alone for less than an hour and I find you doing what?" The sight was really hard to explain even for Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, look how cute it is." Being faced with a blue chick of the dimension of a Saint Bernard and being asked if it was cute, it couldn't help Ichigo to not hide his face. If he had remembered right, this chick was the dimension of his palm when he had found him dead because of the fruits. But this doesn't explain at all his new dimensions, could it be that after the girl ate the fruits her powers altered and now she was producing mutations on the things what she has healed. "Can I keep it?"

"Do you understand that this is the subject of an unknown transformation, so no one cannot guarantee that it is harmless, without taking into account if it has enough lifespan…"Ichigo has used all his patience to explain as easily understandable as he could about the evident facts. He couldn't stop himself from having a déjà-vu of how Yuzu has really desired to have a bird pet, but taking account that the divisions doesn't have a stable amount of energy, and the spiritual fluctuations hurt the animals, the bird had died really fast hurting her.

"It won't. Trust me. It wants to help us. It told me more about the fruits." Ichigo's hand involuntarily took Orihime's temperature. It really seems that the fruits had no effect, but her ideas. "The fruits aren't dangerous. It puts the living beings what eat them to hibernation, the creature hasn't power of what is beneath the earth so this is the safest place for them to rest till the creature is killed." The captain is analyzing her words and he is finding them interesting. Is true when he hid his sword in the earth, and then he tried to slice the creature it was like it couldn't protect at all from it. Could this be its weak point? The man didn't want to think about the events, what caused the girl to reach this conclusion, but he was feeling really dumb because he didn't consider this solution till now. "So can I?" The girl prefers to takes his silence as a yes. Orihime is shivering when she is feeling him patting her gently on her head.

"Yeah… If you really like this thing you can keep it, but don't tell anyone that I agreed to it. Do you got it?"

"Yes, thank you, Kurosaki-kun." The girl gives the man one of her warmest smile. Ichigo was feeling somehow fulfilled that he was being able to make her happy.

**later that day, at Byakuya's residence**

The girl jumped in the bed keeping the chick in her arms. She had some troubles making the servants to let her keep the pet with her, but hearing the misunderstanding, Byakuya cleared the problem, in addition he even ordered to create a nest for the bird to feel comfortable.

The pet adores when the girl tickles it, but it likes the best the feeling when she keeps it in her arms.

"Aren't you such a lovely bird, Hibi?" Orihime was really glad to play with her new friend, when she was a little Sora brought a little chick and they took care of it till it grow and it had make a beautiful family in the tree of the neighbors. Her chest is keeping to vibrate remembering Orihime about the gift received from Rangiku. "Let's take a look Hibi, shall we?" The bird moved closer to her, accepting her invitation.

The girl giggled when she read that the woman were excited about the returning of some guy, and of top of it, there were almost no information about him and no picture so far. The girl was wondering how can the women have so many idols? How can they be obsessed with this someone? A new post makes her to change her mind and then she is shumpoing to Rangiku with the speed of the light.

When the girl literally brakes in, Rangiku has just finished her evening mask. The woman couldn't understand the girl words because she was talking so fast, but she could see the phone pointed to her.

"Oh… I see. So do you like Sora? I must warn you, because there is almost no information about him so I advise you to decide between the men you have already met. Hime, stop crying. If you really want I can let you two meet so stop crying,ok?" The woman pats Orihime's back but she froze hearing her whisper. _'Finally, I had found him.'_

**A.N. Hello guys, I hope you had a beautiful week. I managed somehow to write the first part of the Chapter 4. Did you like it? I will prepare a surprise for the second part so be prepared : ))**

**The next update of this story will be on the next weekend in the best case. It's possible that part 2 to be the final part of chapter 4. **

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, unemployedbee for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Don't forget to let a review of your opinion of this chapter. **

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


	6. Chapter 6

**~ Chapter 4 : The misunderstanding grows. Sora? ~**

** -part 2-**

During this time, the little bird arrived in Ichigo's room couldn't keep up with Orihime's speed. It wakes up Ichigo. The captain couldn't see the girl's spiritual energy in the same room, he guesses that it has something to do with Rangiku.

He forces his hearing in order to determine if Orihime's really in Rangiku's room, but what he heard surprises him. There were bits of conversation about Sora and about the fact that the girl might like him? But the man couldn't hear more, because Rangiku soundproofs the room.

Ichigo decides to wait till the morning, because if he would go to return the chicken now he would be incapable to control at all his temper. He decides to fall asleep, but contrary to his expectations it was harder that he had believed.

The morning came and the captain couldn't sleep at all. It seems that he had passed all his night playing with Orihime's pet. He didn't know why, but the chicken doesn't seem as annoying as he has first thought.

After he finishes his morning routine, Ichigo goes to return the pet when he is blocked by Nanao.

"If you're looking for Orihime or Rangiku they are in the city to meet someone. You can let the little one in my care." The woman doesn't like to talk with Ichigo. After the last night discussion, the girl has told them about her chicken and they helped her to localize it in Ichigo's room. Since Rangiku through gods know what source managed to arrange a meeting between Orihime and Sora, Nanao was the one left to deal with Ichigo.

"Tsh… No need. Just tell me where are they." The captain is pissed. How can they do just what they want before to inform him? What is him? A piece of crap since this Sora came?

"I'm not going to tell you about their meeting location. Why cannot you let them to simply go? Do you really have nothing better to do than stalking them?" Ichigo's behavior is one of many reasons why the woman hates the men. Even if they are 'busy' as soon as something else interferes their mind will just wipe and they would think just about that thing. For example her captain, Shunsui, she always reminds him to stop fooling around or to not drink during working hours, but it was like she was talking to the wall, because man will always do what they want.

"Staking my ass… If I'm not wrong I'm the captain here, so, if it's not my business to know where the hell are my people during the investigation time ? Tell me who would be more 'proper' if you believe that I don't have the jurisdiction?" Even if Nanao is hard to deal with, she has an issue not known by many. What she hates the most is to break rules, and if she's going to deny his authority while is justified….

"Why cannot you simply let them go? After all, you're not a fan of any of them."Being cornered between her principles and between the promise made to her friends, Nanao decides to resort at his not-liking-anyone option.

"Since when does my liking concern you?" The little pet keeps moving around being worried about Orihime. "I really don't care about why you are hiding this information from me, but you have 2 options. You tell me where the hell they are, or I'm going to find them using my spiritual energy what will not end nice. Answer fast, because if this thing couldn't wait…"

"They are at Sakura teashop." The woman answers before Ichigo threats will worsen. Ichigo grins victorious.

"Now, that you have lost my lifespan for nothing, you will be in charge of the mission till Reiji will come. No complains." The man disappears as long as he gave the command. He is really interested of this meeting outcome. All his annoyance transformed in excitement because he was sure that Sora blood will be spilled after taking part of this big scheme.

The only problem was the fact that Ichigo was never to a teashop before, so he's really not sure which of one it is, but considering that Nanao said Sakura, and as far as he knows her captain usually visits it a lot, it has a hunch where should it be.

The only problem is that he had lost the matter of time during this mission, and he has forgotten about one of the annual festivals is happening today, so it will be a little difficult to remain unobserved in this sea of people.

"Ichigo, what are you doing here?" Reiji asks coming together with Rukia.

"Tsh… I should be the one to ask you that. I'm going to Inoue to give her this thing." Reiji and Rukia exchanges gazes. As far as Reiji has told her, it seems true that Ichigo has allowed Orihime to have a pet, now that the pet seems to be really close to Ichigo, and that he's in the search of Orihime could mean that their relationship is growing too fast, and if they would do nothing Byakuya wouldn't have a chance.

"Ichigo, you have promised me that you're going to win me a gold fish this year." Rukia takes his arm in an embrace being sure that he will not be able to escape.

"Gold fish? What the hell! I have never promised such a thing. I have better things to do than to play in the water. You have Reiji. Don't bother me." The captain wants to escape, but Reiji makes him a more attractive proposal.

"How about the one who gets less fishes will be forced to wear a bandana with 'idiot' written on it or a week?" Even if Ichigo wasn't interested in Rukia's game, he could use this opportunity in order to make Reiji to pay for disturbing him in the previous couple days.

"Lets it be written 'baboon' and I'm on for it."Ichigo likes to consider himself a player in all domains. He can count on one hand his defeat, so he could help Reiji to make it officially his debut as a baboon.

The game is pretty easy. There is a tank with colored fish inside of it. The fishes need to be caught thin fish net what seems to be made of something similar with paper. One gold fish will represent a point. The game will end when there will be no fish and the one who has the most will win.

Even if Reiji made the bet, Rukia will be the sponsor since the Kuchiki residence didn't have an allocated budget per person so she is always able to buy how much she wants to. After the first 10 tries no one of them caught any. Ichigo stops analyzing the situation, while Reiji is simply forcing himself to caught a fish.

The net was obviously designed to not catch any, maybe some of them are better made to give a chance. Even if Ichigo likes to make Rukia to spend her money, now he wants to find Orihime asap so he needs a good strategy. Since in the rules it was not mention that a participant is not allowed to use his spiritual energy, that doesn't mean that Ichigo will not profit of it.

The captain created a thin layer on the neat as to stop it from breaking, but in the same time to be a too small quantity o energy in order that Reiji to don't understand the trick. After Ichigo implemented his idea, he caught the first fish.

Reiji's face was something like 'I'm not going to lose again' even I he had a small mountain of used nest near his body. The determination of the red haired man became almost inexistent when Ichigo was catching fish after fish. Reiji wants to protest that Ichigo is cheating, but his desire to protest came too later because Ichigo has caught all the gold fishes.

"What the heck man, how did you do it?" The lieutenant doesn't want to admit his defeat, but he wants to know how much shit has Ichigo eaten to be so lucky?

"Tsh… There is no use for me to explain this to a 'baboon' because you will not get it. I will keep this fish, thanks. Don't forget about the punishment. See ya." And Ichigo disappears.

"How the hell did he do that?" Reiji turns to ask Rukia, but he is rewarded with a fist in the head. "Why did you hit me?" There are plenty of reasons for her to hit him, but the most important is…

"Ichigo escaped right in front of our eyes and you're really that interested in how did he win? Do you really want to let Nii-san be broken-hearted. Do you want me to remember how it was the last time when he was like this?" It was no reason for the petite woman to remind him the darkest period for any people related to the division 6.

"But what are we supposed to do now since we had lost him?" The lieutenant becomes really worried.

"Don't sweat. I have my back-up plan. There is nothing more powerful than to say a 'juicy' gossip on the association of shinigami women group."

"Did you really manage to keep that site till now? But what did you write that you're so sure that they will not let them to reach her?"

"Well, I had just put 1 million bounty on Ichigo. Let's say that you should be more worried about his life than his destination." Reiji is impressed, but in the same time he is scared by Rukia. Women are really scary.

In the mean time Ichigo has traveled most of the distance. He has kept the little fish in order to use it as an excuse if it was all a misunderstanding. He is so close to Orihime that he can actually see her silhouette, but… he is intercepted by Yoruichi? Her fast leg shot has almost break the tank with the little fish.

"What the fuck, Yoruichi. Are you planning to kill me?" The man keeps his distance from the violet haired woman knowing that she is too unpredictable.

"Geez, it's just a kick, don't dramatize it. I was only trying to knock you unconscious, but if you like I'm not afraid to play a life-to-death combat with you." The woman licks her hand, what has its skin pierced by Ichigo's defense.

"You're fucking kidding, right?" Ichigo's curiosity transformed in his curse like it seems.

"I'm not kidding. Didn't you know that gold is the perfect color to match a woman? Don't worry. I'm going to be fast." Ichigo goes in his bankai mode. He has to protect 2 pets so he should not try to fight, so the best way to escape this situation was to…. Run!

Yoruichi launched herself at full speed in Ichigo's direction, but she is surprised to see that Ichigo has simply avoided her? It wasn't his type to avoid her. The woman wants to go after him, but she is feeling a little chilly? It seems that during his escape Ichigo destroyed her clothes.

Feeling that he is safe, at least, for the moment, Ichigo returns to his usual self. He wants to check the pets, but the chicken flies to… Orihime's shoulder? The captain is surprised to see the girl in Sora's arms.

Well, it seems that he has found her and he returned the pet, but why does he feel anger? Ichigo is not in any relationship with her, so he shouldn't mind their closure, but he does.

"Hibi? Kurosaki-kun?" The girl is surprised to see her little bird, but Ichigo seemed hurt…

"Yeah. I have brought up your bird. Don't let it in my care, because it's a pain in the ass." The captain tries to act normal, while he was examining the other man.

"I'm sorry for the trouble. Thank you for bringing it to me and having taken care of it. I have not so much spiritual energy for it to come back to its initial size, but now that it was around you it's back to the original size. Thank you again." Now that he is looking at the bird it really seems that it was normal, not a gigantic undetermined creature. But still, after all he had gone through all she is going to tell him is about a fucking bird? "You can return first. I will remain for a while." Her last phrases represent the cherry on top of the cake. Ichigo cannot keep anymore his impulse under control and he drags her in his embrace. "Kurosaki-kun?" The girls says his name bashful, she didn't want Sora to meet Ichigo like this.

"Tsh… You're going back with me. You didn't have the permission to leave, so you have no power to decide whatever to stay or not. I don't want to put my nose in your business, but I don't believe that searching for a man about what you know nothing will bring you anywhere." His words hurt her, making her to move away from him. It's true that Sora doesn't have any memories about his ex-life, but that doesn't mean that he will not remember. After being for him for a couple of hours, she's sure that she can have her Sora back in no time. "Inoue!" His yelling at her surprises her. It's true that she's used by now of him not having such a sweet attitude, but this is her business.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to stay without your approval. I'm not your possession. I cannot explain to you the current situation, but there is no reason to worry about my safety." Ichigo hits the tree next to them making it to transform in dust. He is no worried about her safety, but the thing what he was worried about is their relationship. Ichigo couldn't guarantee, but he feels like they had some type of connection in the previous life, but not something lover related judging from the girl reactions.

"Fine. If you want to stay I'm staying too. I'm not going to leave anywhere till you're not going to tell me the truth how are you 2 related? I warn you, I'm not going to believe the crap like love at the first sight, because you're not that type." Even if Ichigo is not Sora, that doesn't mean that he will accept to have a lower position than him. If the assumption of her having her last life memories wouldn't be crazy, he would have already pointed it out.

The eyes of the girl sparkle with doubt, she doesn't want to be forced to part with her memories. Ichigo is hurt, he had given her his most precious possession and now she doubted his trust…

"I'm going to leave. This is for you. Have fun." He wants to leave after he gave her the fish, but he's stopped by her palm. "I'm warning you that I'm really pissed right now, so you should better let me go. " Her force on his body doesn't stop, it grows. He is too disappointed to look at her, but even if he could feel her struggle.

"I'm…He's…" Her voice ceases every time when she tries to finish what she wants to say. She tries again, but she's stopped by him.

"Stop. You don't need to tell me. Tsh… If you want to say it, say it, I you don't want, don't! Even if I'm the captain I'm not going to punish you for this, after all it's your personal matter and I'm no one to you." The orange haired man wanted to punch himself for his last words.

"No, you're not. I think… I might have feelings for you." There is a moment of silence, luckily the girl couldn't see his shocked expression. "I'm sorry that I cannot tell you for now, but after I will clear this up, you will be the first one to know." Her heart is beating so fast, that it was going to jump out of her chest. Ichigo isn't the type of person to have no answer, but her feelings…

"I'm sorry, but I don't like you too. Don't misunderstand my playing. I'm not the type to have a one and only woman." His words have probably hurt himself more than her, he is having too many thorns to deserve to love and be loved back. He's like a clock bomb, not knowing when his final second will be reached. He could feel her body trembling, betraying her crying.

"No problem. Even if you consider so, I will try to change your mind, because I believe that we are somehow predestined. So… Even if you consider that love is not a match for you, I will try to make you realize that even you can love. I don't care if you have thorns, I will simply wear a glove and keep being by your side." Her words make him to lean his back of his head on her head, hiding his face.

"Good luck, then, you will need it." Ichigo decides to give her a chance. If she's going to make him to change to such extent that he would not be afraid to lose her, then he will give himself as her prize.

"There you are, Ichigo!" A couple of women came in the man's direction. "It looks like it's the real time to go." The captain shumpoes in the girl's opposite direction as the crowd was following him.

"Hahaha… He's in real trouble now." Rangiku laughs walking to Orihime.

"What is happening?" The girl asks confused, not understanding what she should feel anymore.

"Oh, it seems that someone was too busy to check her phone. Rukia has put a 1 million bounty on Ichigo. Now every woman is following him in order to catch him for the prize. Hahaha… His expression was priceless. Btw, your fish is really cute. I was really looking forward to get one too, but it seems that someone has caught all of them. That's a boomer." The words of Rangiku make the girl to smile. Considering the danger, Ichigo has brought safely both Hibi and this fish. It seems that she has a really good try to make her promise come true.

**Next chapter : Getting to know you better**

**A.N. Hello guys. Happy woman's day! I don't know which hour is at you, but when I'm posting this it's past 2 am. I managed somehow to write the second part of the Chapter 4. It was really a challenge considering that in the past days I got a pretty bad cold, no Corona virus here, so my energy wasn't as much as usual. But I was so excited to write this chapter, that I decided to stay later in order to be extra sure that I can post it till the end of this week. Did you like it? **

**This week I received a question from Guest regarding how will Ichigo's jealousy make him to misunderstand the relationship between Orihime and Sora. Well, I tried to make the answer more visible at the end. Ichigo wasn't jealous on Sora as a rival in love, he couldn't understand exactly what type of relationship is between the 2, because Orihime "doesn't fall in love at first sight". I hope I made it clear : ) If you have any misunderstanding I will answer you further.**

**The next update of this story will be on the next weekend in the best case. **

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, Mdelcsw70 for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, unemployedbee for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Don't forget to let a review of your opinion of this chapter. **

**Have a happy Woman's day without any tissues : ))**

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


	7. Chapter 7

**~ Chapter 5 : Getting to know you better ~**

Orihime is puzzled when she arrives at Byakuya's residence, after she has said goodbye to Rangiku and Sora. She's sitting in the door place, which seems like it was never there, just to see a giant aquarium in her room.

She's looking at the little fish from her fish then at the others, they look exactly the same. Hibi is confused too, when it sees that the little fish has multiplied itself.

"Is my surprise on your liking?" Byakuya says quietly, more like a whisper, from her back.

"Umm… Well… I'm really surprised. Thank you for your care. Hehe…" She's feeling ashamed being faced with something so grandiose. The man, however, is more shocked to see the little fish that the girl has brought home.

Rukia has assured Byakuya that this gift will make Orihime fall for him, being the only one who is in possession of these fishes, but what he sees now it makes him feel like a fool.

"If it makes you feel uncomfortable I will move it to other place." Despite his calm, deep inside he is furious, and the one who will probably know very well this feeling will be no one that Reiji, what has moved the aquarium here.

"No, there is no need for so much trouble. If it's possible… I would like my door back, please." Hearing her words, Byakuya can feel his face becoming red. How could he not observe that her door is missing? Is this a part of Rukia plan, too?

"I have no information about the door, but if it makes you feel safer, you can choose another room for tonight till your request will be completed." It was a quite late hour, and the night grew even bigger after their conversation. If Byakuya would ask someone to replace the door now it will make a commotion what will disturb the elderly, which is strictly forbidden.

"Since it can be solved tomorrow I have no problem to sleep like this tonight. I'm thankful for your help and care till now. Thank you." The girl smiles warmly, now if he would excuse her, she will prepare her little pets to sleep before she will take a hot shower, but it seems that Byakuya would not finish so fast their conversation…

"So… If there is no inconvenience to you… I have heard that there is a very beautiful peach orchard not too far from here, where it's served one of the most fragrant tea. Tomorrow, it's a special day since they will offer some of their most exclusive products. Would you want to come with me?" Considering this events, as well her most recent experience with orchards the girl would want to refuse the invitation, but considering it was impolite to refuse her benefactor for such a small request…

"I would love to." Her answer is music to his ears. Byakuya is feeling a little drunk, being lost in her smile. Maybe Reiji will not be punished as bad as he had first thought.

"I will come to get you at 5 p.m." His soft voice has changed in a proud one, even after so many years it seems he didn't get out of hand.

"Yes. I will see you tomorrow. Good night, Kuchiki-san." The man takes the hint now that it was the time to take his leave, so he bends in front of her, displaying his respect.

Seeing him gone, it makes the girl to think it twice about her desired long shower. It would be probably the best if she will take a quick one before any unexpected or unwanted visitor might come.

The following morning came in a blink of an eye. The girl decides to start her morning crossing her fingers from one palm to the other, moving both of her hands in the same time. Somehow, this exercise, it's able to make her from time to time to recharge with energy.

During the swing of her hands she could feel something really soft at the touch. She believes that it's Hibi so she doesn't give so much importance, till Hibi comes to snuggle to her cheek. After Orihime gives to Hibi his morning petting, she moves on her stomach trying to search for the mysterious source of the softness to see it was coming from… a yellow kimono?

Its design is mesmerizing, it is yellow with peach flowers on it, but it was such beautiful made that it looked like a river of pollen nectar on which there were floating beautiful petals and peach flower. It isn't very bright, but somehow this design in its pure essence, it keeps attracting the looks.

When the girl decides to try it on, an envelope slips from its inside.

_"Even if no material can be compared with your beauty, I hope you will accept my request to wear this for today's event. Your humble, Byakuya."_

The girl covers her face after reading this message, as far as she recalls no one is allowed to call Byakuya on his given name. Could have his request mean more?

" 'Morning. Are you ready?" Reiji greats the girl greats between yawns. Rukia has successfully managed to make him to spy on Byakuya and Orihime again to see the result of the petite woman's plot. She would have not anticipated that Ichigo will give the fish to Orihime, ruining a very significant part of the 'surprise'.

"Good morning, Abarai-kun. Give me just one second." After the girl finishes her request, the eyes of the man have finally adjusted with the surroundings. He would have sworn that she's not human, that her beauty is surpassing with too much even the limits of shinigami if he was not the one what have brought the kimono to his captain. It is suiting so well her warm behavior, as well as her positive energy like the kimono is an extension of her beautiful soul. "I'm ready. Are you fine?" The girl's question breaks the spell making Reiji to take a safe distance from her. Even if she's such a good catch there are too many powerful persons what are into her.

"Yeah. Nice ribbon." The man tries to compliment Hibi in order to not make the wrong move again to look at her. The girl is happy as well as the bird, seeing Orihime being dressed up so nicely Hibi requested some clothes too, so Orihime shared the ribbon for hair to him, making a cute ribbon around its head.

"Oh my gosh, you're stunning. Did Ichigo's fish manage to make Byakuya to spend such a fortune for this kimono? And Hibi is so damn cute. Don't move I want to take a picture. A-ma-zing. I tell you, since now this picture will be for a long time the background for the shinigami women society." The woman is so proud of the picture that she spends no time in order to make what she has said come true. The girl wants to stop Rangiku from posting the picture, but she has no chance at all when she's facing the woman's determination.

"Where is Kurosaki-kun?" The lack of his presence makes Orihime to chase her attempts to stop Rangiku to take any more pictures of her.

"Oh, Ichigo. It's that day of year already?" The eyes of Rangiku move on Reiji to trigger his answer.

"Hmm… I think there is. Anyway is better when he's not around." Orihime is looking from one to another. What does this day has any effect on Ichigo?

"You should have no worry, Orihime. He's always lacking off this day of the year. Tomorrow he will be good as new, trust me. So, Reiji, do you remember from where should we start?" The acting of the 2 is so natural that it makes Orihime to believe that this is not the first time when Ichigo does so. What can be the reason why the man decides to hide himself from the others? Can it be influenced by the reason why he doesn't let himself to fall in love?

"There is quite a big place. We should better split. Orihime, are you able to protect yourself?" Reiji asks while Rangiku is drawing imaginary lines with the possible directions where they can split.

"Hai. As long as it is a medium difficulty I can kill it, if it's higher I can manage my escape."She doesn't want to brag so she decides to not display all of her strength.

"Good. You will go right, Rangiku left and I will walk straight ahead. Use your spiritual energy in case you're in danger for support. Let's go." And like that the 3 shinigami lost their trace.

The girl is happy to have Hibi by her side, somehow it was familiar with the surroundings. The place where they were researching today is not quite far from the other so maybe Hibi can reunite with his family.

"Cip Cip" Hibi makes sounds trying to remove a piece of cloth from a branch of a tree. After some attempts the bird succeeds and it brings the result of its work to Orihime. The girl is surprised to see that the piece of cloth seems to be a part of a shinigami's yukata. She doesn't want to believe the worst so she keeps searching for proves that the owner is safe.

Having a big area to research and such a small clue, it feels like she's looking for the needle in the hay cart. Her desire to help is so much greater than any limitation so even if it may seem impossible she will make it possible.

"Cip Cip" Hibi pulls Orihime's sleeve, when it has her attention it points out to a small tree with blueberries. The sun is past the middle of the sky, the time has run so fast that she forget about getting the lunch.

"A lunch break is a good idea. Let me collect the fruits for you." The girl picks up the fruits having extra care to the thorns of the small tree. Somehow it's thorns has reminded her of Ichigo's association and she is wondering if he has something to eat or if he is good.

"Ciiiiiiiiiiiiiiip" The little bird cries trying to remove her hand from the spines. Red blood is dripping from her hand. This physical event it's remembering Orihime of the words of Rangiku. 'The moment when you love, that's the moment when you feel true incurable pain', her heart it's like it's pierced by Ichigo, but contrary t her hand what she can heal, her heart cannot be healed the same. She uses the piece of cloth to bandage her wound. She decides to keep it like this to remind her, even if such moments exists, even if he doesn't want to open to her, she will fight for the promise that she had made to him.

Hibi keeps silent while Orihime feeds it with her good hand. She doesn't keep fruits for herself, in fact, the yukata received from Byakuya had a little purse in which she has prepared a little lunch in case they will not find any.

After the lunch is done they resume their searching. Not very far from their picnic place, there could be seen a small trail of blood. The girl checks her wound, but there is no blood dripping from it anymore so this blood is of the person what have pierced his/hers yukata?

The trails could have been seen every now and then, it wasn't any pattern. Maybe that person was followed by something. The amount of blood that they have found couldn't come from any creature because it would have been for a long time dead and they didn't find any corpse.

When they couldn't find any blood at all, they were already far away. It was probably the best time to return considering the fact that the sun was about to set, but Hibi decides to act it has consumed a big amount of sugar flying in the direction of a canyon.

The girl tries to stop it, not being familiar with the zone, but when she manages to catch Hibi's tail to stop it from going down to the canyon she is surprised to meet the eyes of Ichigo.

He is literally in a pool of blood, his zanpakuto piercing the depth of his stomach. The girl puts Hibi on her shoulder, then she slips next to Ichigo.

"Who could hurt you so bad?" She starts to cry wanting to remove the sword from his body, but his palms rejected hers.

"Tsh… There is no one that can hurt me like this except of me. Now, if it's not so much, let me stay like this for a little longer." The tears of the girl intensify but she forces her voice to be steady. His palms when he pushed her away were so cold that it terrified her.

"I don't know what may make you to hurt yourself to such extend, but let me help you. Even with your special powers bleeding so much…"

"Huh… Do you believe that I'm so stupid that I cannot realize for myself when and if I'm going to die? Guess what. There it's not needed you or anyone else to remind me about my fucking limits." She analyzes him, his eyes are looking at her, but they don't seem to see her. Even if the situation is already bad she decides to cover his palm with hers. "Don't blame me if you will have no left palm after this. After all you're facing the crazy person what has not too long ago pierced its stomach." The man tries to scare her, to push her as far away, but contrary to his pushes she lets her head on his shoulder.

"Didn't I told you already? 'I don't care if you have thorns, I will… keep being by your side' So it doesn't matter how far away you can push me, I will come closer, it doesn't matter how you will hurt me because my healing abilities will protect me. I don't know why are you in pain, but even so, I will be glued to you." The free hand of the man grabbed her neck, his nails grew bigger instantly, their sharpness threatening her silky skin.

"Tsh… I don't believe. If I ask you will you die right now for me?" He tries to prove that she is wrong, that there is a lie hidden in her words, because for him there was no such a way to love a person like him, a person so broken.

"I'm sorry, but I will not." Her answer was his desired one, but why does it make him feel so empty? "…because, if I would be dead, who will be able to protect you from yourself?" Every muscle of his body is stopped by her words. Even if his nails are piercing her neck making it almost impossible to breath she uses her free hand to make him fall to her chest.

The color of his eyes return to his chocolate eyes. She smiles when his nails retract letting her to breathe a big mouth of air. He looks at her body, her golden kimono is being tainted by her blood. The scene of the moment when he has lost his mother become more vivid than ever making him to curse the blood that he had made her to shed. He wants to leave her, but his body is too heavy. The girl giggles fragile bending her head on a rock in order to face him.

"You know… You're quite energetic when you're mad. I don't believe that I had seen a man be able to hold himself so well, after he has lost more than 3 quarters of his blood. Oh… Kurosaki-kun… I'm not going to heal neither of us till you're not going to confess what made you hurt yourself to this extend. What is it that neither Reiji nor Rangiku are afraid to say?" He is feeling bad for hurting her, but he's not going to be fair to her as long as she will not be with him.

"Tsh… I know that my actions are not the best one to follow, but I'm not going to confess my sorrows as long as you will not explain to me what's the connection between you and Sora." The girl sighs hearing his words. Does her secret really worth for them to hurt themselves so much?

"Uh… I have not clear all the things till now, but I know it may sound crazy. Sora is my brother, from my human life. I can remember my past, but I'm afraid that if it's known someone will make me forget my memories." Her voice is almost shattered after she has finished her confession. Now she has done it.

"Tsh… If you wouldn't have seen me in this state would you have never told me about it?" She wants to deny, but his palm moves on her face blocking her attempt. "Don't dare to give me that look. I have let you explain yourself for a couple of times already. You're not a saint, me neither. I'll look over on this, after all today is her day and he would not want something like this to happen." The girl becomes curious about who this mysterious girl/woman was, but Ichigo's decision to rest his palm on her forehead is blocking her vision. "Today is my mother birth and death anniversary. This is the place where her life has ended. I spend this day here most of the years. Alone. But it seems like this year, somebody has nothing better to do than to search for me. I'm here alone, not only because I want to be alone, but because this is the day when the chances when I go rampage is more than sure and here I can hurt no one. Well, at least till you come." He doesn't want to admit his guild, because it will make himself to bury even deeper in his sorrow. Cannot she have anything better to do?

"I'm sorry for the lost of your mother, but I didn't come here to find you, even if I really wanted to see you." Even if he is used to take so much damage and his body ability to heal could surpass anyone's this doesn't mean that the girl can cope with the situation as good as he can.

"Why did you want to see me?" His vigor seems to come back as the time passes, his palm hides the girl face covering the purple of her lips.

"Because… I kept thinking about how bad it made you feel that I didn't explain my situation for Sora… So… I wanted to make the things clear between the 2 of us, even if it may make you to get further away from me." She said no lie. She had decided to tell him in the moment when she got all of the new fishes, because even if there are a lot of men, there is only one Ichigo.

"Hei… Hei… Are you messing with me now?" Ichigo shakes her body when he felt her energy run out of her body. Her eyes are being absorbed by his concern, even if he will not say it out aloud, his feelings are greater than hers.

"Got you." She gives him a fry smile while her healing shield covers the both of them.

"The fuck! Are you telling me that you have waited till you run out of your energy just to heal me?" He is feeling like a fool being caught in her trap.

"Well, there are a real few ways to make captain Kurosaki to accept help. Don't you think so?" Her attitude makes him to grin, then he lowers himself to kiss her hurt palm. If he's such a nuisance, maybe he could be at least her shining knight.

**Next chapter : Losing their way. The miasma of the forest**

**A.N. Hello guys. I have managed to almost win my battle with my cold. My college moved online during this Corona virus evolution, let's say. Tomorrow I will get to know if I can work from home too. If it can be possible, I will be able to update this story 2 times a week. (rain of confetti).**

**I will try to grant Isabelle Corales request to post the updates more often, but it all depends of my time. Mdelcsw70 review was so beautiful, that it moved me. I have probably read it for dozens of times. It's really great to know that my story doesn't lose its 'magic' as the pages continue to grow. With this update I have almost hit the magic number of 50 pages, but my ideas keep developing so I believe that this story will hit easily 100 pages so stay focused on updates : )**

**The next update of this story will be on Tuesday/Wednesday I believe.**

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, Mdelcsw70, yumeyumi1986for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, unemployedbee, yumeyumi1986 for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep, Isabelle Corales, Mdelcsw70 for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Hint alert: The next chapter will focused on Ichigo and Orihime. Can you guess what will happen next?**

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


	8. Chapter 8

**~ Chapter 6 : Losing their way. The miasma of the forest ~**

After they are healed, Orihime can finally breathe relieved. His nails have made much more damage to her throat that she has assumed.

"So why are you here again?" The man asks concerned. Her clothes are not fitted at all for a walk in the forest.

"I was trying to search for clues in this area. Me, Abarai-kun and Rangiku have parted our ways. I believe that Abarai-kun should be somewhere around. Is there anything in your mind?" Of course he had his worries, but he will not admit them aloud.

"If you're feeling good enough we need to return as long as the sun isn't setting." The man stands up on his feet looking around.

"Um… Is it something wrong happening after the sun is set?"

"Tsh… There are stories I cannot say for sure. I usually don't give a crap about them, but since you are here I need to take my precautions. "He doesn't look at her when he answers, just in the distance like there would be the answer.

"So… are you worried about my safety?" The girl wants to tease him a little so she doesn't bother to hide the smile from her lips. The man grits his teeth, does she really want him to destroy his self-image that he has build all over the years? "Why weren't you surprised when I confessed about my brother?" Feeling his intern struggle, the girl decides to change the topic.

"Let's walk and talk." Ichigo helps Orihime carrying her in his arms in order to leave the crater. Hibi moves on Ichigo's shoulder sensing that he was his usual self again. "There was no surprise that you were not in a romantic relationship, I was reflecting on what can be so important to hide from me, after I have already manifested my desire to protect you, so you should have no worry of me harming you." He lets her down. Now he has said the most important thing in his mind, he hopes that she will not be hurt of his honest opinion.

She doesn't say a thing for a while, she just walks. She shouldn't have worry about disclosing her secret, but she has no excuses…

"Tsh… I don't take you guilty for that. I have 2 small sisters I can understand your worries. I want just to remind you that you don't need to be so cautious with me." He scratches the back of his neck nervous. Here he was, first he wanted to warn her now he's feeling guilty. How far did his feelings advanced?

"It's the first time when you mention your sisters. How are they?" The nice was beautiful, such a clear sky. The air smells so sweet, the clouds color changed being transformed in a sea with red and pink waves.

"Usually I don't like to talk about them, but today I'm going to make an exception. They are about 12 years old. They are twins they don't look at all alike. Yuzu loves to cook, to read, to dress up, while Karin likes sports, fighting and overall to be a brat. Tsh… From all of us I believe that Yuzu is the one what keep us together. She has tried to keep our mother's place since her death's… I have thought that they cannot recover after this incident, but they're stronger than I really am. Even now I cannot accept this…" Orihime cups his palm inside hers. She cannot revert the past, but maybe her presence could make a difference in his life from now on. "Tsh… I'm not gonna cry so don't give me that worry gaze. What about your human past?" Even if he denies his need for her care, he doesn't refuse her hand.

"Um… My past… Ehehe… It's quite troublesome." She doesn't want to hide anything from him from now on, but she's a little worried about what he will believe about her after he hears her story.

"So what? Everyone have things that they're not proud about." He cannot imagine what a virgin girl like her could have gone through to be so secretive.

"Remember, you asked for it." She takes a big breath before she begins her story. The man didn't make a sound not wanting her to change her mind. "I grew up in a small village. There weren't that many jobs there, but somehow we managed to live quite decent. When I was small Sora protected me from discovering the way in which my parents managed to maintain a living." She rests her voice for some seconds before she can continue. "Once, when Sora was busy with school I discovered the mystery. My mother… was forced to do prostitution, and my father was proudly filming her during the act… I didn't understand back then the meaning of this, but it scared me. The reason why I was at home was because I had a cold, the scene surprised me so much that I drop the glass of water making them to notice. I cannot say what happened next, but my father dragged me in the scene and did very ugly things to me. Hopefully Sora managed to arrive in time, before he could do something even worse. After that day, Sora couldn't protect me as before. I have witnessed how malfunctioning it was my family. After 6 months my mom left us for a rich man and my father kept hitting me and hurting me because he considered me the guilty one, because… I was not his really daughter, I was the produce of one of my mother 'affair'. Apparently she has tried before to run with another man, but he was killed and she was forced to return to my father's 'hell'. My brother forced his hand and he decided to take a job. It was a madness, he was only 12 back then, but since there were really few educated people, he managed to find a job at a shop. It was ok for a while, as long as father had beer to drink they would let us alone. They were days when my brother managed to get some pocket money and he would buy sweets for me. But when I started to develop and I was looking more like a woman my father's evil roots woke up. He wanted me, but Sora's 18 birthday was around the corner. With the money that my brother had hidden in the back of the closet, we ran out of the village. The destination was a city not very far away from us, but where one of my friends of my brother lived. He was so nice to let us live with him till my brother could get a new job and we could live in our apartment. The next 3 years Sora has worked as a librarian as well as to study for college, while I was preparing for the medical school. During my studies I wanted to make him a surprise, to help him in order to not work so many extra shifts, and I got a job at a bakery. The day when I got accepted I ran to Sora's library. He was surprised to see me and more surprised when he heard my decision. I couldn't hear his answer, because a trunk crushed near us. From what I was told Sora has seen it coming and all he could do was to push me in order to save me. That's the only reason why I survived and he didn't. His funeral was the hardest moment in my life, I lost the only person what truly cared about me. After that I kept myself busy with school, work and learning for medicine school, but it seems that my attitude was misunderstood so… Right before I could hear the results of my entry contest, some of my fellows cornered me and abducted me. They cut my hair, they throw different solutions on me which burned my skin, telling me that this is what I deserved for looking at them like they were inferior, even if I did not. One of the girl's malice was even stronger, because as it seems her boyfriends break up with her telling her that he likes me so she took a gun and she shot me. The others were in shock not wanting to go to such an extent, but they all got to prison. So this is my human story. That's the reason why I wanted to protect Sora. I'm sorry." He doesn't say something for a while. She's feeling bad for saying so much, the sweet smell in the air made her somehow unable to stop.

"Tsh… You have a hell of a story. Listening to you it makes my drama to be like the rain in the desert, almost nonexistent. Damn. I cannot understand why didn't you transform in a hollow after experiencing such injustice. Don't you desire revenge?" He is not mad at her, he is pissed at the situation. Her heart warms up, it seems like neither her past can break their connection.

"No. I do not. I was even a little sad when they were punished." The man looks at her like he doesn't understand her existence, why cannot she be mad at the one who had killed her?

"Prison in the human world, I have heard about it, but I cannot understand its sense. There is not enough punishment in this world for the one who kills to satisfy his greed." The girl can feel that his statement doesn't refer to her situation only.

"What difference would it make a man what is thirty of revenge to kill the one who hurt him than a man who kills for its greed? The desire of revenge is a greedy one. It takes one moment to do a bad thing, which can take a whole life to redemption it."

"How can you simply leave peacefully about it? I cannot understand!" The sense of her words collides with his inner desire to live for revenge. How can she simply deny his core?

"Hehe… You're so silly. Usually, the ones who hurt are the ones which are broken inside, they might desire it. For example, consider my brother's killer. He faced me as soon as I was discharged and he asked me to kill him with a gun. Trust me that my palms were shaking when I wanted to take his gun, but I have remembered Sora's teaching that answering by dealing harm to somebody which has done harm to you it would trigger just a bigger misfortune in the world. So I told him if he really wants redemption he should never do any bad things."

"Have he listened to you?" Her inside beauty is fascinating him. Is there any boundary to her kindness?

"Umm… I didn't follow him, I didn't want to have any connection. But after I told him so, I heard some news about a man what does charity here and there, and that he wasn't like that till then, so who knows. Did my story change your mind?" It wasn't needed for her to hear his desire to payback his motherkiller, but maybe she could make him believe that he can have more options.

"Tsh… You sure love to talk. You got me distracted and I cannot understand where we are." He doesn't want to say to her that there is no turning back for him.

"It's just my assumption, or there became really foggy?" She is trying to focus her eyes but she can see nothing more far away than Ichigo.

"Shit… I believe we have company." The miasma that Orihime had felt initially has intensified. "You should better stay close to me." He doesn't want to worry her, but he is feeling something familiar with whatever they are dealing aura. Having met Ichigo and being able to survive, that would mean extra trouble. The man couldn't feel any move, but it felt somewhere closer.

"I don't know why but I feel like the ground is burning." He has almost no time to react than to take her in his arms and to jump. If his reaction would be a little slower the fangs of the creature wouldn't just touch his leg. "You're bleeding." She wants to cure his injury, but they are surprised by a… human voice?

"Hahaha… Well played boy. I believe that you are one of five what has managed to dodge my first attack. Don't you know the saying the food becomes better as much as it bleeds hahaha…." The creature launches different branches to them what they seem to be poisonous. Even if he couldn't see, the captain has especially prepared his hearing for this kind of situation. He dodges each of its attack, but his wound is felt like its burning increasingly. "Aren't you such a romantic? The first wound should hurt as hell, but even like this you gave your all to protect her. By now the poison should have already taken the effect. Haha… You're such outstanding. I promise to you that I will savor your soul to the last of its particle. Huh? Where is your wound? How did you manage the fog to disappear? Where is the girl?" The monster wakes up from his 'sweet' dreams of how he can taste Ichigo when it could see its spiritual energy decreasing.

"Tsh… I really hate lousy enemies. Do you really believe I give a fuck about what you're thinking? But today I will consider it to be my luck. Even if your observation is correct and she's not so fitted for fighting, this doesn't mean that she will not be a real pain in your ass. Damn it. I hate to admit but I believe that her ability is more suited to defeat you, than mine. After all you're not the real deal, you have only borrow you powers from your real leader." Ichigo is taking his sweet time trying to drag as much as he cans the time while Orihime is denying its ability while maintaining her presence senseless.

"How… how can you know that?" The monster is terrified, after so many years Ichigo is the only one what has managed to uncover his trick.

"I cannot take all the merit, because I have met your boss before so I know better than anyone that you're not the real deal. Inoue is the one what has figured out that your powers aren't yours since your powers aren't stable." The miasma in the air faded giving Ichigo the silent signal that he doesn't need to extend the discussion. "I'm interested in your boss. Will you give me his location or do you want to make me use the hard way?" From Ichigo's perspective this monster is a medaled coward. As soon as it lost a part of its powers it keeps trembling and it cannot stop from searching ways to escape.

"I don't know. I really don't know. Spare me!" The monster cries when Ichigo cut one of its arms.

"Damn it. Your voice really annoys me. If you're going to say any word in addition to my desired answer, for each word you will have minus 1 arm. Don't worry when you're left to none, I'm quite inventive. I'm not called the black ripper just for my looks." The creature looks like a carnivore plant (Dionaea Muscipula) so cutting its arms wouldn't do a long lasting damage, but if it would have its core hit, it will disintegrate faster than a firework.

"But I really don't know where he is…" -8 arms. "I'm serious." -2 "Just stop and listen."-4"It was 6 months ago when I have last seen him in the lily valley." The creature is so afraid by Ichigo's desire to kill it, that it says the last phrase in only one breathe.

"Now you speak in my language. It wasn't so hard, was it? Just 15, 16 arms but…" He cuts another arm. "You're still lie to me. There is no such a way that you're master would be so 'generous' to lend you its power for so long if there wasn't a way for you to share the souls that you have collected with him. So will I take my time to ripe you apart or are you going to confess?" Ichigo's day wasn't so awesome till it's apparition, at least now he has a victim on which he can use his strength as much as he desires.

"No. No, please not. Anything but that. He's too strong to be defeated."

"Tsh… I don't need such a wimp to say to me what I can do or I cannot. Your 'boss' killed someone very precious to me so even if it's the last thing that I will do I will make him suffer. In your current situation I would be more afraid of me because I can kill you way sooner that your boss can, and if I kill your boss that you have nothing to worry." The creature isn't so smart, but Ichigo has a guess why he cannot say it.

"I cannot give it to you, but I can show you the way." The creature becomes a little confident feeling that it has something that can guarantee his temporal safety.

"Yeah… You sure will, but not in this life." After Ichigo says this sentence he pushes his sword in its core making the monster to disappear.

"Why have you done that? Wasn't it useful to you?" Orihime comes together with Hibi from the back of a tree not very far away.

"Well, it was more than useful, because now I know how I can find my target anytime soon." He picks a compass from the ground. "You have probably not studied it yet, but there is a special type of hollow which can borrow its master power. And some of the hollows in this category, what have eaten very many souls doesn't need to go daily or when they catch to share the soul with the master, this compass collects them and when the master runs out of souls this compass will inform the hollow of its master location." Orihime is worried of his desire to vengeance, but it seems that she will not be capable to let him go of it. "Will you join me when the time will come?" The girl is surprised that he is asking or her assist during his important battle.

"Why would you want me to join you? Am I not a burden to you?" Her eyes are shining with expectation of his answer.

"Tsh… As you can see you were quite capable. Plus, would you let such an unstable person like me to deal all alone with the monster on what I have an issue for such a long time?" She doesn't answer she keeps looking at him pointing that this is not what she is expecting. "Will you let a shitty past comrade alone in such an adventure?" He doesn't want to say yet those words.

"Well, since it's an issue regarding you needing company I think I have some names what come in my mind, not special need to be me. But if you have another reason I might consider it." Her smile is seductive, if she wants their relationship to develop she needs to force him to break his comfort zone.

"Tsh… Your heal ability might come in handly."

"But there are plenty shinigamies with healing abilities, some of them are more prepared or combat than I'm." She is playing hard to get, but that doesn't mean that he cannot play it too.

"Any of them doesn't have the amulet that I gave it to you."

"I see no problem in lending them. I don't believe that are any which will dare to steal on your watch." She has caught him in a corner with no way out. The man rummages his brain, he will not surrender.

"Tsh… If you don't want to come just say it. I might have other options."

"I understand. Now, if you excuse me, I need to be somewhere else." The girl wants to leave, but the man catches her wrist.

"Where are you going to?" For the moment he has forgotten all about their misunderstanding and he is focused on her.

"Kuchiki-san has invited me to have tea. I'm probably already late and I need to fix my clothes before the meeting." He is annoyed, so her new kimono was a gift from him and now she wants to live his side for an appointment with another man?

"You're not going anywhere. The hell for tea, is not good or health. You can throw out this kimono I'm going to buy you another one." He makes a mental note to remember Byakuya's attempt.

"I cannot do that. He has offered me a place to stay. I cannot refuse him just because my captain says so, after all he's a captain too." She speaks the truth, after all a captain couldn't interfere on another captain decision, only if they had a good reason. But Ichigo is not someone what is listening to the rules so he hugs her and he kisses her passionately.

"My woman is not somebody that can be appointed so easily."

**Next chapter : **

**A.N. Hello guys. My approbations for work from home were a little delayed. I managed to get the permissions starting Monday so there shouldn't be any issues with the updates anymore. Just a quick information, if something happens and the update is delayed you can check in the comments section because I would most probably put a comment to announce you about the state of the update. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep my desired update plan for this week because my timing was messed, plus right now we're dealing with a complicate problem, at the world wide problem, which make us to think at our spare time to make the necessary suppliers if this situation worsens, in my country at least there isn't a rule to not let us go outside, but starting today rules like the limitation of the number of persons in a market has applied. Humans are a mess right now but even if the situation is not good and the idea of that others have damaged the situation more it should be better keep as an advertisement sign, not panic. So we should focus on what we can do as individuals, not like the higher up did that or that, because as long as we people as community come to an agreement and we respect that, the problem can be diminished. So, please protect yourself, because you are important.**

**Mdelcsw70 review has really pointed out all the suggestive ideas that I wanted to point out. It's the first time when the meaning of my chapters is analyzed. You did it great, no complains. Thank you for being so invested in the story.**

**I'm sorry Isabelle that I couldn't grant your request faster, but I'm working on it. I will try to do my next update this Sunday.**

**Even if I point out some reviews don't believe that yours are not important too. Each review makes me smile and trigger my motivation to write this story further, because there are people what care about its flow.**

**The next update of this story will be on Sunday.**

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, Mdelcsw70, ****yumeyumi1986, DoctorSurgeon**** for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, unemployedbee, ****yumeyumi1986, DoctorSurgeon**** for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


	9. Chapter 9

**~ Chapter 8 : A short notice visit ~**

She touches her plumb lips looking at him. He is greedily licking his lips savoring his victory. She's feeling like a sheep being examined by a hungry wolf. Maybe she should not have use Byakuya in the conversation, but after all he cannot be so greedy while offering nothing emotionally in exchange.

"I will not be your woman as long as you don't love me." She declares walking away. He goes after her after a short while.

"Tsh… You know I cannot promise you such a thing." He can try to not cheat on her, but love is not a word suited for him.

"I can wait as long as you want to try." She declares stealing a quick glance at him.

"Huh… Even if are you going to wait for an eternity for such a hopeless man like me?" She stops in front of him, uniting their hands.

"Mmm… I have a feeling that you might deserve the waiting time." The man smiles, then he lower himself to give her a sweet kiss. Maybe if they can stay a little longer like this, this 'love' can be reachable.

"Orihime Inoue, are you there?" The voice of Byakuya shatters the silence, but even after hearing him, the 2 have a hard time interrupting their kiss. "Captain Kurosaki, have you seen Orihime Inoue?" The dark haired man is surprised that when Ichigo turns himself she can find a shy Orihime inside his arms.

"Tsh… I cannot help you. I haven't seen her anywhere." The girl cannot contain her laugh hearing Ichigo's answer. Byakuya's angry. The orange haired man has his most desired woman right in his arms and now he has the audacity to deny it.

"I can see that she is clearly in your arms. Please return her to me, we have an appointment that is already delayed." Even if Ichigo really hits his last nerve, he cannot lose himself to be so disgracefully in front of her.

"Huh... I know that coming to that 'age' can make you think you believe this and that, I'm dealing with this every time with my old man. But take my advice and go to search for her anywhere but here 'cause there is no one waiting for you." Ichigo's decision to 'mark' that she is his, is not on the girl's liking so she removes from his arms and she goes between them.

"I'm sorry captain Kuchiki, please excuse captain Kurosaki. It's my fault. We can go at our meeting anytime now." Even if Ichigo can be funny, he has disrespected his limits. Byakuya looks at Ichigo displaying his victorious aura.

"We can go any time when you're prepared to." Seeing her increasingly closer to Byakuya, it annoys Ichigo.

"Tsh… Do as you please, but don't have any expectation after this." Those are Ichigo's last words before he disappears.

"Do you really have enough energy for our meeting?" Byakuya asks concerned seeing the girl's pale color. To be sincere Ichigo has consumed most of her energy.

"I'm sorry, if I'm completely honest, I do not. Can we reschedule?" She doesn't want to be mean with him, she would probably be absent minded during their conversation if they will go now.

"I can plan another date as long as it doesn't bother you." He doesn't want to be pushy, no love can be forced, but Ichigo has managed to beat the logic.

"It will be fine for me, thank you for your understanding." She's really glad that at least one man is her life can be so understandable. He didn't force her in any conversation, he has just asked her if she needed any help when she seemed to be losing her balance, but she denied it.

When she has reached her room, she has instantly felt asleep.

Early in the next morning some knockings in the window are heard. She doesn't want to be bothered, so she tries to remove the sound by covering her ears with the pillow, but the sound of smashing glass made her to jump off her bed.

"Tsh… I knocked once, I knocked twice… You ignored me so don't look at me with this face, I will pay for it. I came here to tell you something important." She is stunned, but not by his intro, but by the fact that his body is dirtied by rouge and he has the smell of women all over him. Hibi comes from Ichigo's shoulder. The little one seemed worried for its friend Ichigo so that was why it has followed him. He ignores the hurt sparkle in her eyes continuing the speech why he was here. "I came to inform you that there is no need for you to go to work today. You can take the day off, but remember, whatever you will do **don't come to the barracks for investigation**."

She had felt hurt seeing him like this, but denying even her presence was simply destroying her heart. She didn't want to be weak, so with the price of biting her lower lip to blood she managed to maintain her position. "I understand that we are not having the best relationship now, due to some misunderstandings or not, but with or without your approval I'm going to the barracks to help with whatever I can." He catches her hands with his and he pressed her against the wall.

"Do you believe if it was just for my ego that I would deny your presence?" It's true that Ichigo is not the calmest man on Seireitei, but his decision to appear in front of her in order to protect her from any 'problems' that may occur today was pure.

"Your female companion or companions would know better than me to answer at your question, so if you excuse me…" The smell of the other women on him was unbearable, so she should leave immediately before her emotions will get the best of her.

"Damn… At least look at me when you say such accusations." She doesn't lift her head, she doesn't want to see him. "Inoue, look at me, please…" The pain in his voice makes her to give a second thought about his request, but when she hears the word 'please' she's so surprised that she forgets all about her mixed emotions. He smirks when he sees that he has successfully captured her attention, then he grabs her face in his hands. "I'm not going to deny that I went to see other women after you left with Byakuya, but I couldn't do anything to them, because my mind was full with you. "

She's moved by his words, but not entire. "Maybe you should give another 'try', now that you are 'full' of energy." She gently brushes his hands. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be your second option because you couldn't 'do' as you pleased with others, that doesn't mean you can have your 'way' with me, because if you believe or not I have feelings what you have deeply hurt. So, please, take your leave. I'll be in the healing barrack if you want to avoid me."

"Tsh… I didn't want to resort to this, but don't you know the repercussions of denying a direct order from a superior?" She's so hard to deal with. He did a mistake, but she shouldn't go with Byakuya too, cannot they come to a resolution?

"Hehehe… You are right, there are some severe consequences." Her answer was music to his ears, now he could breathe relieved that Isshin will not do anything strange to her. "But my superior is Unohana, I'm here as an aid, it's nothing official so you have no jurisdiction here. See you later." The girl decides to shunpo to the meeting spot before Ichigo will have any other idea. The orange haired captain would caught her in no time, if Byakuya would not interfere.

"Now, what? Are you going to oppose me too?" Ichigo argues with Byakuya.

"Well, you have entered in my home without authorization, you have broken my things. In addition you have disturbed the rest of one my guest so I have plenty of reasons to stop you from reaching your goal." Ichigo looks at Byakuya somewhat perplex, surprised of this side of him.

"I would never believe that captain Byakuya can come to such an 'unjust' conclusion. What did happen with the most fair and rightful captain ?" Being stopped from one of the person what he displeased him at the moment did only make him to focus his anger on him.

"Sometimes I really wonder if your dumb attitude it's just a play, but in moments like this you are really at the level of you reputation, captain Kurosaki. For your information, I detected you presence since you entered in my territory, but due my respect for a colleague captain as well as a rival in love I let you express your reasoning to Miss Inoue. It was really a surprise to see you in such state, as well as still being drunk in the work hours. I'm really disappointed in your attitude, a captain shouldn't act so rashly, he should set an example for all the shinigami to follow. Congratulations, in the end you pushed her in the situation you wanted to avoid due to you lack of behavior. From now on, please don't question my reputation if I will take rightful measures when you will try to intrude again. Also, I will send you the bill of your dramatic entrance apparition so we would have nothing to share anymore. Have a nice day captain, and please refrain from contacting Miss Inoue if you treat her like any other woman."

Being scolded by Byakuya cooled down Ichigo and made him realize his mistake. He and Orihime didn't agree to be in any kind of relationship so he has no right to expect anything of her, less her agreement to be with him after he tried to 'make' out with so many. He wouldn't want to recognize, but he is thankful for Byakuya for making him realize his mistake. Now he should go to change, before he should apologize to her.

***during this time in Ichigo's barrack***

Orihime has bumped on Isshin in the second she arrived. It could be said that he is a magnet for beauty.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" Orihime tries to apologize, she doesn't want to cause more problems that she has already done.

"Hahaha… You're such a gorgeous woman that it should be my lucky day that I have met you. Do you happen to know where I could find Ichigo?" The man smiles wide like he has the luckiest day. There were really few shinigami what were so joyful so she feels good in his presence.

"I might have met him in my way here, but I don't know where he is now." She is sad that she couldn't help more, but she is wondering if this man is the one Ichigo would want her to avoid.

"That bastard, I send him a letter that daddy will visit him and now he is nowhere to be found. If it would only be me I will let it slide, but Karin and Yuzu were so excited to meet their brother." The man ponders about Ichigo's hideouts seeing that there is no way out than to play hide and seek with him.

"Are you by any chance Kurosaki-kun's father?" Away of their height and genre Orihime couldn't see any resemblance between them, they were quite opposite.

"I know it's hard to tell since I look so young, but yes, that bastard is actually my son. I'm sorry if he had caused you any problem, he's a big brat, but if you really want I can compensate you with spending some time to me." Isshin moves his eyebrows in his 'sexy' way what amused Orihime, till he was hit with a pillar in the head. "Ouch… Can you not to simply tell 'I couldn't find my brother', rather than hitting me each time, Karin?" The man turns in front of 2 petite girls.

"It could work as you said if you wouldn't do so many dumb things all the time. How can you flirt so shameless during the day when we were supposed to find Ichigo?" Isshin moves his eyes on Yuzu but she simply shakes her head. "Old man, you shouldn't blame anyone other than you that Ichigo decided to run rather than meet a freak like you, I bet you said nothing about my and Yuzu presence, do you?" The man looks surprised by the girl's accusation, but he decides to confess.

"How could I ruin such a surprise by telling that idiot that you 2 are here? Anyway, I wasn't flirting with her, I don't even know her name, on contrary, she had met Ichigo on the way here and due to the fact that she is not with him you might agree that you brother did something horrible to her." Karin look at Isshin displeased then at Orhime.

"I know my brother can be an ass most of the time so we should exchange stories while we are waiting for him." Without further notice Karin dragged them in Ichigo's room where they made a circle around the round table in his room. "Now that we are gathered here you can tell us all the story and don't omit or cover the moments when Ichigo's an idiot, because those are my favorite parts."

Orihime has never had such a noisy and happy family gathering so she considered that this is all normal so she told them the story trying to omit the embarrassing event.

"I cannot believe Oni-chan did such a thing." Yuzu starts to cry picturing her brother in the morning.

"Don't cry Yuzu, I told you he is a lost cause especially after gin and women, that is such a bad combination for him." Isshin look perplex at the brunette twin.

"And how did you know that?"

"Who did you believe that it dragged his fat ass from most of the situations when he was drunk while you were at work? Take a hint, it's me. The most shameful was when he tried to smoke and he almost chocked with the tobacco, someone really did need to teach him that."

"Don't tell me you teach your brother how to smoke…"

"Relax, that was only one time thing, so you shouldn't worry about, and it wasn't me, it was Reiji. You should have seen them trying to imitate Ukitake. I'm telling you Ukitake has never spilled so much blood as that night looking at the 2." Some tears form in the corner of Karin's eyes when she remember the moment when Reiji ate the cigarette and Ichigo tried to hit his back in order to spill it, but in the end Reiji felt in the lotus pond.

"It seems that even the geezers did party hard in my absence. I'll cut their party's budget if they keep forgetting to invite me to these events." The man sighted visibly hurt by his fellows behavior.

"I see you really want me to recall your 'throw knives blindfolded' incident?" Karin looks at her dad like she really questions herself if she is adopted.

"Come on, Yuzu, please tell Karin that your daddy is awesome. It seems that she has forgotten who has won the big prize at that event." Isshin tries to brag, but the brunette twin will not let him to succeed.

"Yeah, they let you 'win' the big prize because you would shot anything else, except of the apple that you should shot." Karin hits her face when she remembers that Unohana punished her too, to take care of the patients which Isshin has hurt because her 'idea' to make him participate in this game.

"Hei, I still keep the record of shooting so many shinigami without to become a hollow." There were various reasons for Isshin to not be proud of, and this one is one of many. Orihime giggles hearing them arguing, 'it's so nice to have a family' she thought.

"What the hell are you doing here? Inoue? You too?" Ichigo is shocked to see his family members in his room, but he was more shocked to see Orihime with them.

"We had a kind of a family reunion, then you came…" Karin mutters under her breathe when she sees that her brother is embracing Yuzu forgetting about her.

"Tsh… You should have told me before that you would come too so I could fetch you." Ichigo caress the brunette hair, while Yuzu was like glued to his side.

"To lose that mortified expression on your face? Not a chance in the world." The orange haired captain laughs at his young sister joke. Yeah, he had missed them. "Btw, you were really a jackass with Orihime in the morning, you should really beg for forgiveness while she still has eyes for you, because I like her and I would not mind her to be my sister in law." Ichigo is surprised to hear Karin speaking like this considering the fact any of his female friends, and this makes him to feel something warm in his hearth.

"Yeah, I can be sometimes an idiot, but she has run faster than a cheetah, so I doubt that she wants to hear something from me right now." The twins exchange gazes, then Yuzu take a handchief from her yukata and she starts rubbing his face.

"Don't forget what mom taught us : 'even if someone is rude or inappropriate an excuse from heart can never be overlooked.' I don't believe that Orihime is the type of girl to overlook your sincere intention, but for future reference it will help to do a shower before you do that." Having the blessing of twins gave Ichigo the power to stand up and to face Orihime.

"Inoue, can you walk outside with me for a while?" The girl looks at his honey-brown eyes and she feels as melting by their sincerity. She nods then she follows him outside.

"You should better take care of her, otherwise I will not mind to snatch her away from you." Isshin's voice is heard right before the door is closed.

"Tsh… I'm sorry for all of 'this', my family can be quite strange, this is one of the reasons why I didn't want you to be here today." The man confesses leaning on the bark of a tree not very far from his barrack.

"You shouldn't feel sorry, it was fun. I have forgotten how nice it is to have a family." He is surprised of her degree of acceptance, if even his family couldn't scare her away, she might be the one for him. "You said this is one of the reasons, what are the others?" He loses his position for some seconds, somehow the conversation didn't lead to the morning events.

"Maybe I was afraid of them to give you a hard time or to not like you, the last woman that they had met and she had a thing for me didn't end so nice… Karin didn't like her and she tricked her to eat some poisonous mushrooms what made her ill for a month, or the other before had her arm broken because she wanted to play with Karin football…" The list could go on and on, but that doesn't mean that telling her his history would make her safe from Karin or other what might harm her.

"Wow, you really have a bunch of experience." Hearing him talking about his exes makes Orihime to understand that she may never have any special place in his hear. He catches her arms making her to focus again on his mesmerizing eyes.

"Tsh… Don't try to compare my experience with yours, because I don't give a damn. What I wanted to say is that you're the first one that they approved on, you're the first one that I avoided them to meet, as well… you're the first one what could make me unable to think at other women. I don't understand my feeling yet, and I regret being an ass this morning. So will you forgive me?" The world freezes in Ichigo's mind, he was never so sincere to anyone, nor to open up to anyone in this way. Each second was passing really slow, making him wonder if he might have worse the things again.

"Oh, I really don't know what to say… Of course I forgive you, I shouldn't be so hard on you too." The mixed emotions on her face, her tears mixing with the sweetness of her lips couldn't help Ichigo to decide between hugging her, giving her some space or kissing her. "I'm sorry for my outbreak, but I'm really happy that I may have a special place in your heart." In that moment Ichigo did not want anything else than to kiss her so hard that she will not want to part ways ever again.

"Don't tell me this is all…" Karin mutters from the window looking at the two.

"Come on, Karin, they are so sweet." Yuzu smiles seeing that her brother may have found his peace.

"Yeah, I might get diabetes, but this is not the point. He should do more than kissing if we really want her to be a part of the family." It was almost impossible for Karin to side with someone, less be such an active fan.

"Calm down, after all you're not better at all." Yuzu giggles imagining Karin trying to give love advice to Ichigo.

"For your information, even if I'm not so sweet talking, I'm kind of charmer." The blonde twin couldn't content her smile hearing her sister statement.

"I cannot remember you being more romantic, than the moment you told that boy that he has a potato in his ear." Karin is displeased to be reminded of her first confession, what ended one sided, as well as making her so annoyed that she hit the boy with the first thing that she could have her hands on.

"Tsh… We might be not the most loveable, but we can make it work somehow." Ichigo concludes making his appearance hand in hand with Orihime. Even if Karin's first love story wasn't a hit, she has now a bunch of guys from what she can select anyone she wants.

**Next chapter : Yuzu's secret lover. A Valentine's day hard to forget.**

**A.N. Hello guys. I'm really sorry for the delay of posting this update. The things were really messed up with College and work but I passed them successfully. **

**I have written this chapter like 3 times due to loosing the text what was troublesome. I'm really pondering using Microsoft word on the laptop vs the online version. If you have any other variants what will provide you of no lost of data please inform me, I would appreciate it.**

**Since 2 says ago I have a big migraine, as well as an earache what couldn't be treated with any medicaments I'm used to. I'm want to avoid trying to go to a specialist, in order to not get in contact with too many people since it seems that the Covid situation in my country don't seem to solve. So if you have any treatments that you took and cured you, I would like to try. **

**I'm trying to write the next chapter of this story this week.**

**I know the world wide situation in these days is crazy, I'm experimenting right now a big depression, not doing too well in my relationship. But I want to remind you, that however the situation is don't look down on yourself. As long as you do all you can and fight for your love and he/she doesn't see a big deal to not see you for 2 weeks even if you stay close one to another, like 3 km is NOT your fault. If you catch him/her texting other girls/guys to meet for coffee and they try to plant in you mind that this is ok, regarding that the nickname of that person is improper as well as the emoticon of the conversation is not your fault. You must not give in, you must express your point of view. You must not pay him or her to block that person. There are many more problems what can be faced, but be strong, because you are SPECIAL, because if this relationship will not last, you could have much more lovers rather than a toxic one.**

**I want to remind you to love yourself and do not chase to improve yourself. So be strong and have faith in yourselves : )**

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, Mdelcsw70, ****yumeyumi1986****, DoctorSurgeon, Orihime-18, , Rito Dragneel, for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, unemployedbee, ****yumeyumi1986****, DoctorSurgeon, Orihime-18, 93, Rito Dragneel, guguvundla100, tipipkd for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep, Orihime-18, Mdelcsw70, Isabelle Corales for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


	10. Chapter 10

**~ Chapter 9 : Yuzu's secret lover. A Valentine's day hard to forget ~**

"Orihime, Orihime, can you please wake up?" Yuzu is gently shaking the beauty's body. The woman is so caught in her dream that she's asking 'Sora' 5 more minutes to sleep. Yuzu is surprised to see Orihime sleeping with other man in thoughts, but she decides to shake her a little harder in order to wake her up before Karin would get mad hearing her calling Sora's name.

"Mmm… Yuzu? What are you doing here?" Orihime's gaze is still blured, but she guessed by judging the younger's shape.

"I need your help in order to make chocolates for Valentine's day." Hearing the celebration name woke Orihime instantly. If it was something what would be her second favorite celebration, this would be. Her excitement changes in amusement seeing Yuzu, what she was costumed like a detective.

"Why are you dressed up like this? Where is Karin? Does Isshin-san know that you are here?" Orihime decides to hide her curiosity about how this celebration is celebrated in Soul Society, and she thinks that it would be nice to make Ichigo a little surprise.

"I know we are dressed pretty dumb, but this is all Yuzu's idea in order to be undercover to not let Isshin or Ichigo to find us. Last time when Isshin has found Yuzu baking some sweets for a boy, he had burned out the kitchen literally saying that 'only daddy and Ichigo is allowed to taste Yuzu's cooking' so you get it. I was busy in the hallway with Byakuya, sorry for waiting for me." Karin undresses herself from her 'stupid' outfit and she sits on the opposite side of Orihime.

"Why did you and captain Kuchiki talk in the hallway?" Orihime is surprised to see that Karin and Byakuya have a pleasant relationship, contrary of his and Ichigo.

"He gave me this lollipop." The brunette says pointing to her mouth. "You might not now yet, but Byakuya loves children and this is why he does have always candies at him. It's a shame that he is not a female, otherwise I would pair him and Ichigo a long time ago." Orihime laughs hearing Karin's idea.

"Karin has a sweet tooth, so if you ever want to win her over, now you know the secret." Yuzu whispers, even if it was more than clear that Karin is hearing her. The moment of the girls is interrupted by Reiji what was asking Orihime to come out in order to go to work. Orihime signals to the twins to not say a word and to hide under the bed till she will discuss with Reiji.

"Good morning, Abarai-kun. I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling very well today. Can you say to Kurosaki-kun that I will not be able to be present today?" Orihime speaks very fast as she opens the door. Reiji is shocked by how fast she is able to speak as well as seeing her in pajamas at this hour while taking with a man, but then he recalls the fact that Rukia is doing the same so this is probably a 'girl' thing. He was ready to take his leave, but he could not observe the detective suit on Orihime's bed.

"Are you planning to go somewhere?" He asks trying to not be focused on the clothes.

"No, nowhere particular." She tries to keep her calm even if she was sweating pretty hard.

"Ok. You can ask the servants if you need anything. It's possible that Rukia will be around if you need someone to chat. I will be taking my leave, get better soon." After he said his goodbye the red haired left.

"Damn, you are not good at lying, are you?" Karin says coming back in bed and grinning widely.

"Karin! This is not something nice to say." Yuzu scolds her, doesn't wanting her twin to get a worse behavior.

"There, there. Let's go shopping." Orihime tries to reconcile the both, by patting their heads. Her gently caressing made the twins to remember their mother. Surely, they will fight for Ichigo and Orihime's relationship to work out.

*** back to the investigation barracks***

Ichigo is bored to fill the forms of their investigation. Even if it was more than a week since they were actually gone to investigate something, he needed to catch up with the paperwork, what is not his strong point. He would be better killing an arrancar rather than doing a pile of papers.

"Are you still not done with the paperwork?" Reiji comes in Ichigo's office displaying proudly a heart box.

"Tsh… Aren't you such a caring lieutenant? You don't need to bribe me in order to let you a pile or two of documents, I can let you handle all for free." Ichigo smirks letting down his pencil. It was nice to see Reiji's annoyed face.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your shits, I don't need extra work. Guess who got a Valentine's gift before you this year? That's right me." Reiji is smiling content. Today is going to be the day when he will beat Ichigo.

"Oh, so it's again that time of year. Have you bought yourself again chocolate?" Ichigo grins remember how happily the last year Reiji displayed his box of chocolate forgetting to remove the price tag.

"No, these are handmade chocolates. See!" Reiji removes cover of the box to reveal some ugly pieces of chocolates what looked like some murdered rabbits.

"Tsh… It's hard to say if whoever gave you these chocolates is asking you for a challenge or simply hates you." Ichigo goes back looking at his paper seeing already enough 'chocolates'.

"These are Chappy The Rabbit chocolates. Rukia has made them especially for me." Reiji tries to fight back, but after he looks at the chocolate, he shares Ichigo's feeling.

"Damn, at least take one of the boxes from outside if you really want to brag to someone. But where is Inoue?" Ichigo tries to save some of Reiji dignity, by giving him one package that he has received from the girls.

"She's not going to work today, she is sick. Why the hell do you have so many gifts?" Reiji is surprise to see the mountain of gifts way bigger than him, under the sign 'Please let here the packages'.

"Tsh… I'm going to explain this as simple as I can. Charm was not written in you ADN so piss off." Reiji takes as many gifts as he can and he leaves, while Ichigo is pondering if he should pay Orihime a visit. After all he was more than interested in seeing her gift.

***Byakuya's kitchen***

After the girls has bought anything they needed they were ready to start the chocolate operation. While arranging the ingredients, Orihime couldn't help herself to not ask about for who the twins were making chocolates.

"Of course I will make chocolates for my father and Ichi-nii." Yuzu answers bashfully.

"As well as for her secret lover." Karin adds malicious.

"Karin, he is not my secret lover." Yuzu tried to deny but her face becomes increasingly redder.

"Who is he?" Orihime tries to pry, but not too much in order to not upset the twin.

"His name is Muramasa. I have a picture of them. Look." Karin shows her phone on which it was a picture of walking with a really tall brown haired man. His icy eyes gave Orihime a chill, but it might be all in hers imagination since nor Ichigo seems the warmest person.

"Karin, you're not fair. I said nothing about you and Toshiro." Yuzu tries to get the phone, but she fails each time.

"Ok, ok. This is me and Toshiro. We play football sometimes." Karin tries to keep her cool, but her excitement could be seen in the picture.

"Wow… you're such amazing having a love life. I cannot remember what I have done when I had 12, plus I have no boyfriend till now." Karin has cut the chopper in 3 while she is cutting the chocolate hearing Orihime's words.

"I cannot believe that you have no boyfriend till now, it seems that Ichigo is really a lucky bastard. Don't tell me that he has said to you that we are 12 years old." Orihime is surprised by the brunette teen affirmation.

"How old are you?" Maybe time is really flowing different here, because if she would have their age she would give them 12. Karin prefers to let Yuzu answer the question while she is mixing the chocolate with liquid cream.

"First of all is not like Ichi-nii has lied to you, in Soul Society 1 human year is 10 years, so we are 12 years old in human years." Orihime tries to hide her surprise, but she was not such a good actor. "I believe that you do not know Ichi-nii age too. He is 21 years old, his birthday is on July 15th, he's not a fan of sweet things, but he likes the bitter sweets and he also loves strawberries. So I can give you an advice of two if you want to make him some chocolates." The woman ponders for a while looking at the heart shaped strawberries that she has just cut. It's such a big age gap between them, so how would a 210 years experienced being want to be in a relationship with an inexperienced 18 years girl. Has she made a joke of herself till now thinking that Ichigo would feel something for her?

"I haven't see Ichigo to act so well till he has met you." Karin tries to lift her 'sister-in-law' worries.

"Really?" Orihime is surprised to hear that Ichigo has changed since he has met her. He doesn't seem to be as hard with her as in the beginning.

"Of course! Do you believe that Ichigo is a man to run after a woman in order to apologize? No way… He was treating the females as object till you, but you are special and I'm sure that Yuzu will agree." The orange haired twin nodded. "We're done shaping our cookies. Have you decided for who would you make chocolates?" Yuzu chocolates were in shape of little gifts, and Karin has decided for small football balls. Orihime decided to make a big heart as well as little ones.

The baking process has started and the 3 of them are looking at the oven full of hopes. In 15 minutes the chocolate was ready and they admired their result. Orihime is ashamed that her big heart shape became something ugly.

"What are you doing here?" Byakuya scares them entering without making any noise. "Inoue, shouldn't you be resting in bed?" The man has received an advice from Reiji that the girls would probably make some Valentine's chocolate so he should definitely pay a visit.

"Hehe… I was helping the twins to make some chocolates, but I guess I caught myself doing some too." She wants to hide her sweets, but contrary to her movements Byakuya could see what she was hiding.

"Did you make Wakame Ambassador chocolate for me?" He is so surprised to see her to find his interest. Orihime matches his gaze what is fixed on the failed big heart. Since he is her benefactor she could give him the messed piece since he likes it so much. She covers it with pink paper and a bow and she gives it to him.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Captain Kuchiki." The man took gladly the chocolate, then he excused himself, before he would give in to the impulse to ask her hand.

"Did you really make it for Byakuya?" Karin inquires not knowing if she should be worried about Byakuya as a rival in love for her brother.

"I was trying to do a big heart for Ichigo, but it didn't come out as expected. I wanted to throw it out, but since he liked it so much I gave it to him, is there any problem?" Orihime's innocence is adorable so Karin decides to not explain Orihime the meaning of what she has just done.

"Be sure to give them to your lover and family in order to avoid the misunderstandings. Now that we are done, we should gift them." The others 2 agreed with her words. So the 3 of them goes on their separate ways. What they did not know was the fact that Ichigo was spying them from a nearby tree. He is glad to see that the twins like Orihime so much, but he didn't like her giving chocolates to Byakuya, and judging from her direction he is not going to be her second option either.

She was going somewhere outside the city. The place seems too shady for her so it made Ichigo tense. Could she have been playing him till now? May she not be the innocent, pure, loving woman that he believes…

She knocks at the door of a mansion. It looked quite good contrary to the surroundings. Ichigo is shocked to see that the person what opens the door is none other than… Sora. It wasn't strange for a sister to give chocolates to her brother, but why did he became so tense even if she would give chocolates to other men?

Orihime stayed with her brother for a while, but after she left she had a confused look on her face. Before Ichigo could try to analyze her expression he heard something shouting 'Surprise' by his right arm. He is shocked to see that she has discovered him, and even more shocked to see how fast her abilities have evolved.

"Look at your hand." The girl says smiling bright. When the man looks at his right wrist he could see a wooden bracelet with a little blue heart pendant. "I know you do not like the sweet sweets so I decided to make you a sweet wooden bracelet so you would have it with you whatever you would be, of course you can throw it away if you do not like it, but… Happy Valentine's day, Kurosaki-kun." Ichigo couldn't help himself to not give her a sweet deep kiss. He could not believe what good deeds did he make in order to receive her in his life.

"Tsh… It's true that I do not love sweets, but I guess I can make an exception for you." After he finishes his words their lips meet again. Ichigo lifts Orihime in his lap to feel her closer. His body is burning with desire, he has never desired to make a woman his so much.

"Kurosaki-kun…" Orihime's voice stops him from his hypnosis. "Sora is watching us." She manages to say having her lips freed.

"Tsh…" If they would go all the way, this would be her first time. Probably no woman would like to have her first time climbed in a tree with her brother looking at her. "I understand, I will stop, but you're not allowed to move an inch." Ichigo hugged her with his left arm letting his face to sink in her hair enjoying her scent. "I saw you baking chocolates. Didn't you save me some?" She was probably aware of the fact that he has followed them, so he was curious about her cooking.

"Well… I wanted to bake you a big heart, but it didn't go well, but Captain Kuchiki came and wanted it so I gave it to him. And regarding the little hearts Sora tasted one and he almost chocked to death and he asked me if I didn't desire to kill you to not give you any." Now Ichigo understood why she was so low spirit after she exited her brother house.

"I have experienced things worse than death, I don't believe a chocolate can kill me." He is so determined to taste her cooking that it makes Orihime a little ashamed. She takes the box of chocolates from her yukata and she gave them to him.

"I have added some strawberries in them. I hope you like them." Hearing that they contain strawberries made Ichigo to chew 2 instantly. "How are they?" Orihime asks seeing that Ichigo has teary eyes. He doesn't know what to say, in addiction he's afraid that if he would open his mouth he will burn everything from the surroundings. It was so spicy that his stomach was demanding to drink all the water in the near pound in order to calm down the burn. He gives her a thumb up couldn't be able to say anything nice.

"Orihime, are you done? Let's see how Yuzu is coping with her gift." Karin yells from below the tree with a big grin on her face. Having Orihime distracted Ichigo has sealed his acupuncture points what were sending his stomach's feelings.

"Hai. Ichigo liked my chocolate." Orihime says content coming down to the brunette.

"Really? I gave Toshiro mine with just a spoon of wasabi and literally his bankai started to spit fire. You should have seen, it was gold. While he was trying to stop his bankai I sneaked a kiss on his cheek and told him 'Happy Valentine's day dumbass.', after that he was so shocked that he has burned half of his team barracks, but I have managed to sneak here before he could yell at me. I must admit that is pretty brave of you to give him the gift here, or maybe I interrupted something?" Seeing that Ichigo's palm is literally glued to Orihime's and that he didn't throw the bracelet were only giving her good signs that her brother might have realized his feelings for the beauty. "Btw, good strategy to seal your stomach acupoints." The sister whispers to her brother.

"Tsh… Let's go to Yuzu." Ichigo tries to escape before Karin would tell Orihime that she has discovered them by the fluctuation of his spiritual energy. Soon, the 3 of them were heading in a bush looking at Yuzu and Muramasa. Ichigo examines Muramasa from head to toe, he looks like an emo punck, he doesn't speak much, plus he has a strange aura around him.

"Why the hell did Yuzu fell for this guy?" Ichigo whispers to Karin couldn't understand how his sweet little sister would like someone like him, even Hisagi seems a better option. Karin tries hard to hide her laugh, at some level Ichigo and Muramasa were really similar.

"You should better ask Orihime why." The brunette responds smirking.

"Soten Kisshun..." The woman yells these words jumping from their hiding. The 2 brothers freeze when they see a knife in Yuzu's chest and the fairies of Orihime trying to revert the time. It was hard because her soul tended to disappear and the woman needed to keep all the particles together.

"Well, it seems like we had uninvited company and you posses quite an intriguing ability. You know the saying 'Good to have, worse to lost'. So don't blame me woman, blame your foolishness to face me." Muramasa wants to crash her neck but he is stopped by Ichigo in his arrancar form.

"Don't kill him Ichigo, you will kill Yuzu too." Ichigo stops in time cutting only his left ear, in result Yuzu lost her left ear. Muramasa looks at Orihime displeased.

"Woman, are you aware that no one likes to have his magic trick revealed before the show ends?" Ichigo's mask cracks then disappears. He only knew how to fight, facing an enemy which he would hurt would cause his sister wounds is shocking him till his inner core.

"Why would you do such a thing? Why would you hurt a girl what confesses her feelings for you?" Orihime is mad, sad, angry, but she cannot let these emotions to consume her, because she needed to learn how could she break the link of their 2 souls.

"Feelings? We are immortals, why should we bother with such trivial things. Take a look at the strong captain Kurosaki, because he loves his little sister cannot kill me, so what advantage does his power has in face of this human emotion called love?" His words annoy Ichigo greater, his eyes became red. Orihime could not use her power to detain him, Karin was the only one what could keep him down. Without having a glance of doubt Muramasa stabs his stomach. Blood starts to pour from both bodies.

"Why would you go to such extent to kill Yuzu with the price of your life?" Orihime starts to cough blood. It was almost impossible for her to sustain her life, but if she will try a little harder.

"Who does say that Yuzu is the object of my revenge? If you want to crush the true enemy, kill his beloved one in order to extend his agony. The attacks of the Soul Society are just the beginning of the true war in which Kurosaki you will be the main character. Grand Fisher asked me if you liked the surprises he has prepared you so far, because there are just the appetizer, some of the dishes of the main table are going to be revealed soon, as for desert you will be." During his speech there were some fluctuations because his vital force was running out, but this gave Orihime the understanding of how she could save Yuzu.

_"Do not dare to do such a thing, you have already used almost all your energy. If you try what you have in mind you will die. Don't be stupid woman." _Tsubaki tries to convince her give up at her plan, but the woman is decided. Even if she and Ichigo couldn't be a couple in this life she will give her all in order to save his beloved sister.

"Tsubaki cut." Her energy wasn't enough to cover her conversation with the fairies, so all have heard her words and then a bright light emerged between the 2 bodies. The link was cut in this way and Yuzu's body started to recover. Ichigo and Karin go to Yuzu what seems to try to open her eyes.

"Have good care of her." Orihime's voice fades with her words. Ichigo goes instantly by her side, but her spiritual energy became weaker and weaker.

"It seems like at least I could kill 1 of 2. How do you fell to lose again the woman you love right before your eyes?" With these last words he died with a big grin on his face.

What Muramasa didn't know it was that Ichigo wasn't that helpless kid what has watched his mother to die. He has studied since then methods to save his beloved ones if this was the case. By birth he didn't have healing powers, but he can use his energy to extend her life till they could arrive at Unohana.

"Karin, please take care of Yuzu." Ichigo let Yuzu in Karin's care sensing that Issin was already on his way, so using his fastest shunpo speed he arrived at the 6th division barracks.

"Unohana, I need your help." Ichigo bursts in the operation room caring his beloved Orihime. Ishida has almost dropped the scalpel in his hand in the pacient's open wound.

"Ishida, I need you to continue the operation from here. I'm going to save Inoue." Unohana lefts the patient in the hands of Ishida before he could give his approval and the 3 goes to the brunette's room.

Unohana tried to search her spiritual energy vessels, they were all broken. It was really a miracle that he could bring her being still alive here. The healing captain's powers were less impressive than Orihime, and the situation was beyond her.

"How could she get in this state?" The brunette doesn't have a solution for the effect, maybe the cause could help her to have a better understanding.

"Muramasa pushed a knife into Yuzu's chest somehow linking their bodies. Inoue jumped as soon as she saw this and tried to cure Yuzu's body. Muramasa stabbed himself in the stomach, and before he was dead Orihime could break the link between them and Yuzu was saved." Unohana's face darkened hearing that. "What do you think? Tell me!" Ichigo is concerned and Unohana doesn't help at all.

"You, idiot! Do you believe that soul linking is as easily to be reverted? Orihime might have the power of a god, but all with a price, and for this case… She has probably taken the link upon herself in order to protect Yuzu…" Her words make sense, but in the same they didn't.

"How did she take the link upon herself?" He is simply perplex, his mind seemed to stop working…

"Would you have felt better if you were put to choose between Inoue or Yuzu? Inoue took that decision for you in order for you to not be guilty of the outcome. She chose you over yourself." Ichigo has fallen in knees hearing Unohana's statement. It was definitely something Orihime would do for sure, but why did everything ended like this.

"Because you are stupid, just stupid. I'm amazed how could she care for a trash like you." Tsubaki says sitting on Orihime's stomach.

"You are one of Inoue's fairies, aren't you?" Ichigo asks accepting every stabbing word of his. Unohana couldn't see Tsubaki, so she wasn't really sure that Ichigo has not lost his mind.

"Oh, you're quite a genius. How did you discover? Was it my wings, was it my size?" Tsubaki couldn't hide his hate for Ichigo.

"Tsubaky, don't be harsh to him. Hello, my name is Ayame. We are here to tell you that Orihime will be fine."Tsubaki wanted to kick Ayame, because he didn't let him to torture Ichigo more.

"How could see be fine?" Ichigo doesn't know what to believe anymore. If he could see her fairies then it means that she could survive somehow, right?

"Do you know the amulet what you give her? It has the power to absorb hollow energy, and since the link was created hollow energy, the amulet has absorbed the quantity what would kill her. We're not sure when she will be awake, but that you for giving her the amulet." Ayame bows in front of Ichigo.

"Ayame, stop being thankful to him, if he wouldn't give Orihime hope she would not be hurt. All is because of him." Ayame wants to stop somehow Tsubaki from making Ichigo move away of Orihime, but it was hard.

"I know it is my fault, but please let me take care of her till she will wake up, then I will disappear." Ichigo's promise broke Ayame's heart, but Tsubaki accepted the deal before she could change his mind.

"You had better not move away from her now because your energy is helping her to recover. We don't know for sure if there would be any consequences after she wakes up, but you should be together with her till that moment, she deserves it." After delivering the final message the fairies disappear.

Unohana looks at Ichigo what was saying nothing for a while.

"I'm sorry, Unohana. Inoue will recover, but can you lend me this room till she will wake up?" Ichigo is hurt emotionally, but glad that he has at least a way to help her. Unohana accepts, but she doesn't want to comfort him.

The time slowly passes. There were many what wanted to visit Orihime, but Byakuya, Ishida and Rangiku were the only one what have said harsh words to him. After a week he could feel her hands moving, then he looks at her face, her eyes are trying to open. When her eyes are open and she looks in his direction she is scared, she could see Ichigo's arrancar form.

"Kurosaki-kun why are you in you arrancar form?" She asks trying to calm down her worry. Ichigo looks at her surprised. He has stayed all this time by her side, he has never went to bathroom , not ate or drink anything. How could he have the energy to transform?

"What are you talking about? I'm just me." He moves her palm over his face and she could sense no mask, despise she clearly sees one.

"Oh… I believe we have a problem."

**Next chapter : Orihime's hollow form. New abilities. (part 1)**

**P.S. Update on SUNDAY.**

**A.N. Ok, so first of all don't freak out. Orihime is not the type of hybrid like Ichigo and the others. She has basically no link with hatred, revenge or any deeply dark feelings. The hollow is not a part of her being what has being awaken by her closed to death situation, it is something more like a guest, because it is unable to merge with her dark feelings, because she has none.**

**Her hollow form will not be anything related with Kubo's personification. The hollow is needed in order for her to get a better understanding about the world, and it helps her to develop more powers as well as to discover more secrets, because well… Soul Society has a bunch of secrets what have not been yet revealed.**

**The hollow will help Ichigo and Orihime relationship to improve. If the hollow would not appear, Ichigo would have kept his promise to Tsubaki, but right now… He is the 'only one' what can help her or so he believes.**

**So stay tuned, you will understand more with the next 2 chapters Orihime is even more out of Ichigo's control.**

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, Mdelcsw70, ****yumeyumi1986****, DoctorSurgeon, Orihime-18, , Rito Dragneel, for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, ****yumeyumi1986****, DoctorSurgeon, Orihime-18, 93, Rito Dragneel, guguvundla100, tipipkd, NazRif99 for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep, Orihime-18, Mdelcsw70, Isabelle Corales for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


	11. Chapter 11

**~ Chapter 10 : Orihime's hollow form. New abilities. (part 1) ~**

Ichigo decides together with Orihime to keep her new form as much as a secret as they can, but even so he could not accept the fact that he has contributed at her transformation. He has desired to respect Tsubaki's promise in order to keep her as pure as she was, but right now it was not an option, because 'no one' was more fitted to help her, since he was the 'only' hybrid.

"Inoue, there is such a nice surprise to see you awake." Unohana enters the room to check Orihime's pulse as always, to be sure that she is recovering just fine, even if she does not understand the process. The orange haired woman could sense the hostility between Unohana to Ichigo.

"Is there everything fine in Soul Society these days?" Orihime tries to ease the tense atmosphere between the 2 captains.

"My dear, I believe except you, no one could make the 6th division such a headline." The younger woman is shocked hearing her captain words.

"What does it mean?" The beauty is scared of what the answer might be, but having Ichigo by her side empowered her.

"If going back to almost death in an unknown way is not an enough big deal, having one of the captains kneeling next to your bed for a week, as well as having hidden enemies between ourselves is quite the news. I'm a least thankful that the fact that you can remove a linkage between 2 souls, as well as the info what we got about the arrancar leader could remain hidden. I'm going to be honest with you, Inoue. There is a lot of information regarding you right now, so I advise you to stay as hidden as much as you can till you would be fully 'recovered'. I have discussed with captain commander and he agreed that you and Ichigo could stay at a hidden facility at least for another week." Unohana tries to describe the situation, trying to conceal the fact that in Orihime's body were a lot of energies what are trying to stabilize. The brunette captain was secretly interested in how the beauty will cope with all of these.

"Thank you so much for all of your care till now, Captain Unohana." The girl tries to make a small bow, but her body is so weak that all she could do was to bow her head.

"There is no need of such courtesy between friends. I could not do so much. Ichigo was the one what gave you energy all this time to speed your recovering process, which I hope he could stop now if he doesn't want your spiritual vessels to break again." The orange haired captain tries to remove his palm from hers, but his palm was so numb since he hasn't moved it at all a week that he blushes. Orihime blushes too understanding how much did he care for her. Unohana hits Ichigo with the back of her palm. "You should better bring Inoue somewhere to eat, before you will collapse of hunger. This is the key of the facility, but do not go there on empty stomach. I believe that there is some spare food at the canteen if you run out of ideas where to eat." The brunette captain smiles, it seems that Ishida has no chance, but this doesn't mean that she doesn't wish the happiness of all of her subordinates, then she leaves.

Ichigo has regained enough strength in order to remove his palm of hers.

"Rangiku left a fruit basket the other day if you do not fell like moving." The color of his cheeks goes back to normal, but he couldn't escape of the cold feeling of his hand being separated from hers.

"It would be nice, thank you." Orihime's face becoming redder and redder, this is the first time when she and Ichigo will have a meal just the 2 of them. Can she consider this a date? She wonders. Ichigo is moving like a robot to the basket and sits it next to the girl. Orihime hides her face in order to not let any giggle to escape between her lips. Ichigo tries to hide his embarrassment trying to sit in bed near her. "Itadakimasu!" The woman prays before she digs in.

The men swallows dry seeing that the first fruit that she has picked is a strawberry what she has eaten in no time. The way she eat it in one go, biting its tail in the end looked very seductive to Ichigo.

"I'm sorry. Did you want to eat the strawberries?" The girl is looking at him concerned. She saw that he could not remove his gaze from her face after she ate the strawberry. Could she make him mad again?

"No, I'm fine. Eat whatever you like." He could not voice out under no way the real reason why he did stare.

"You do not need to hide, Kurosaki-kun. There are plenty of fruits so I will let them yours." She smiles bright, then she chooses a banana. He has literally crushed the orange in his palms when the tip of the banana entered her mouth. "ajsjdjs" Her mouth was full with the fruit so she could not ask him if he is ok. She tries at least to remove the juice of the orange from her face in order to see him better. "Are you ok?" She asks after she swallows.

No, he was not ok. She is too erotic without to want to. Rangiku has prepared for sure this fruits in order to play with his mind. The only thing what he is grateful is that he has no energy to do it, otherwise the woman could see clearly what power she has on him.

The man has almost swallowed his tongue when he saw the pink bra lace under her yukata.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answer a little annoyed and he decides to go for an apple. He could sense something hard while biting the fruit, after he has looked better at him he could find a ring and a 'Go for it, Ichigo' message from Rangiku.

"Nothing important. I'm going to the canteen to get something else, anything else." He mumbles. He should have not ever propose to eat Rangiku's food.

"Can you bring me a glass of water? I'm feeling really hot." Orihime's words stabbed him. Rangiku could not… He turns his head to her and he could see a red Orihime breathing hard.

"Inoue-san, are you ok? I came to bring you some medicine." Ishida's voice is heard from the door. Fortunately, he has brought a big bottle of water.

"It was nice to see you. Bye." Ichigo closes the door right in his face after he takes the bottle from the tray. "Drink it in one go." The captain hurries the woman not wanting anyone to see her in such state. Ishida brakes the door not wanting to let Ichigo to be any more time alone with her.

"Mmm… It tastes like strawberries." Orihime says happy after finishing the bottle of water.

"Kurosaki… You… Could… Not…" Ishida almost spells the words seeing Ichigo's waist in the direction of Orihime's face. The 2 orange haired look at him dumb. Ishida breathes relieved when he saw that Ichigo is fully dressed.

"What the hell are you bringing us food? Didn't you say medicine?" The lieutenant is ashamed that he should use his backup plan in order to have a reason to intrude.

"Captain Unohana asked me to deliver it to you." He knew that his captain was busy in the morning, so she should not be able to pay them a visit.

"Strange, but I do not remember Unohana to say something about you bringing food, do you, Inoue?" The girl shakes her head. Ichigo goes next to Ishida. "You should recognize that you are a pervert and you wanted to 'check' her. Don't even try to deny it, after all you had such dirty thoughts seeing me next to her. Aren't you ashamed to have such dirty fantasies when you are not able to confess to her properly?" The captain whispers to the dark haired man, wanting to make him understand once and for good that he has no chance with Orihime.

"Um… Kurosaki-kun, why does Ishida-san have a bow glued to his back?" The 2 men look in shock at her. The fact that Ishida was a quincy was a secret between Kurosaki and Ishida families, but she could discover it with just a single glance.

"Did you say something to her?" Regardless love affairs the secrets of the 2 families should not be disclosed.

"Tsh… Do I look like I knew it? I'm as surprised as you are…" Ichigo splashed a glass of water on his face. Should they be glad that Orihime posses such a new power or should they be afraid that she would probably killed for it. "We're going stay at the hidden facility. You should inform my old man about this discover, but tell him I will not agree Inoue to use this ability. Her safety is my priority, so if he has something to say he should go to me. Leave the food here and go inform him of my decision." Ichigo took the food and sit again next to Orihime. He cannot believe how in such a short amount of time she was way too out of his control.

For this time being they have eaten in silence. The captain needed time to process all of the new information, while Orihime is not sure how Ishida's bow was something of such a great importance. She didn't know of the existence of other categories of beings than souls, shinigamies, hollows and hybrids. Could there be more? Are there such big secrets that the normal shinigami does not know?

After they have finished the meal, they went to the facility. It looks quite abandoned on the outside, but the inside looked nice with the exception of some spots here and there.

"This is the place where I trained after I almost fully transformed in a hollow. It might be not such an amazing place to spend this 'holiday', but no one can track us here and the walls are really hard to crack as you can see. To make those cracks in the walls I needed to use almost all my spiritual energy, so you should not be afraid to use your power. Whatever will happen I will help you overcame." Ichigo would have punched himself because he has chosen such a combination of words. Receiving no reply from her, he stopped from searching their supplies and he moves his gaze on her. She is touching the wall where there is a cracked mixed with his blood.

"Did it hurt you so much?" She asks seeing his attention fixed on her.

"Tsh… It's not easy to be a freak, but I believe I excel at that." He grins, he doesn't want her to worry about him or her past. After all he should respect his promise and part ways after he will finish to teach her how to control her hollow.

"I didn't know that having a hollow inside you is so painful, that it tries to overcome you each second. I didn't know that they try to get every event and they try to get the worst of it. Is this what are you facing all the time?" Her eyes water understanding how much pain should he have endured all these years. Even if she wants to convince him to renounce at his revenge his hollow would remind him of his weakness back then, so it seems futile.

"Tsh… Don't cry for myself. I can handle it well. As you can see I'm not a riper." He wipes her tears. He doesn't want her to bear any pain, but in the same time he is glad that he has someone that could understand this part of him too.

"The hollows should be in so much pain too, having so much hatred." He is shocked. Does a hollow have feelings? He didn't think that a hollow could be treated as a being, he did hurt him all the time when the hollow wanted to take over the control. Ichigo couldn't picture himself drinking tea with his hollow, and discuss their problems.

"I have never treated my hollow as a being. We're fighting all the time over who has the control, so there is no time to chit-chat about feelings."

"Why are you fighting rather than accept each other?" He is speechless. To accept his hollow was not an item on Ichigo's new year resolution list.

"Tsh… I do not believe it works this way. What do you expect during the day to be my time and during the night to be the hollow's time?" If she was another girl he could joke that she has a fantasy with his hollow, but considering that she is Orihime he will not.

"Of course you are you and he is he. I was wondering if you have ever tried to be friends with him." He looks at her and he understand that only she would be able to have such an idea.

**_"This woman is quite interesting. Why don't we give a try?"_**_ Having Ichigo's hollow siding with Orihime annoys Ichigo._

_"The hell with it, do you believe that I'm going to let you have any chance in controlling my body? Never! You're going to stay chained on the bottom of the lake to rot like garbage that you are." He didn't wished for a conversation with his hollow, but he was quite stubborn._

**_"Look at you, the queen has more guts than you. Was I stuck for so long that you grow a p***y?"_**_ Ichigo was on the verge of punching his hollow, but he is stopped by the words of Orihime._

"I want to try it." Ichigo goes back on his senses, but he is still denying the reality.

"What do you want to try?" There were different of things what she could try, she wouldn't be that stupid to try…

"I want to go to my inner world to talk with my hollow." He looks at her for an entire minute without blinking in order to reduce his rage.

"I will not you allow to go there. If you want to speak with him, just speak, it's not like you need to make a journey each time you want to ask him something or simply to shut up." He raised his voice in the end, which made her shiver, but she didn't move a step away.

"But how is it different from you? You have just come back from her inner world."

**_"The queen got you here." _**_The hollow has a lot of fun seeing the orange haired captain being cornered by a woman._

"My hollow is fucking chained on the bottom of the lake by me. Yours is free and you even want to make friends with him. Do you see any difference?" He is mad, he wants desperately to punch something.

"You have never ever let me even try. How do you know that I'm going to fail?" She wants to try her idea, if she succeeds, she may be able to give Ichigo another option, a future with no revenge.

"Because he is evil as you said, and you are you. I cannot come with you to protect you. You'll be all by yourself, and if he gets the best of you, he will kill you and get the control of your body. How could I let you simply die?" He wants to make her understand that it was horrible to almost loose her once, he doesn't want to go through the same thing.

"Why are you so scared for me?" She has never seen him so worried, neither when Yuzu was about to die.

"Because I fucking have feelings for you, that's why!" Ichigo freezes, while she stares at him. "Tsh… Are you happy now that you know it?" He lowers his forehead on the opposite wall, he didn't plan to confess, he didn't plan to sound like it, he was just… Orihime tiptoes and she places a kiss on his lips.

"Wait for me to come back." This is all what she says before she goes to her inner world. Ichigo manages to catch her body right before it could hit the ground.

*** Orihime's inner world***

She has never believed that going to the inner world is so easy. From what she has understood it could take years to at least some couple of months, but she doesn't want to question her ability, because she was here to succeed her plan in order to be worthy to stay by Ichigo's side.

**"Well, well, well… Look who make time to pay me a visit." **The hollow stays hidden behind a tree. The beauty took her sweat time to admire the surroundings. It is such a lovely water lily garden, it looks very much like Claude Monet's Garden. There is a pound with water lilies above which is a wooden bridge. Around the lake there were various colorful flowers, as well as some small trees. Even the grass is shining, and the sun is so pleasant that she wouldn't mind to stay here to enjoy it for a while. **"I must say that I'm quite impressed of your world. To be sincerely, I had a lot of hosts over the years, but you are the only one what is unable to have dark emotions. If I were you I would seek revenge on Grand Fisher. Who knows how many cute girls did he eat during your Sleeping Beauty game with that man." **She doesn't understand why does the hollow hide in the shadows.

"Why do you want me to do to seek revenge?" The beauty goes increasingly closer to the hollow.

**"Oh, what a surprise. Are you really eager to fight, even to take his life?" **The hollow still doesn't move. Judging from Ichigo's story the hollow should have already attacked her, but why does he not ?

"You have a point considering the fact that he is a killer. I don't want anyone else to get hurt so if you have a solution I will gladly listen to you." She is next to the tree, if she would make another step she could see the hollow's identity, but his energy scares her.

**"Do you really believe that I will trust you without any sense of malice coming from you? Why are you so scared to face me since you want us to form a partnership?" **The hollow rises from the ground and faces her. She is surprised by how much human did he look like, even if some of his bones could be seen do to his rotten meat. The hollow didn't blink when he saw her tears. **"Little girl, you're quite the trouble maker. You make me go to this state, then you shade tears for me. Don't expect me to have any sympathy." **He wants to go back to his place, but she stops him.

"Why are you in this state?" He looks at her, she's not afraid, she doesn't resent him or pity, she just wants to get along.

**"Do you believe that your inner world without any malice would be the paradise for me? Let me tell you a secret, any hollow what would be trapped here would have be gone. Your sun is burning me, your air is intoxicating me, I tried to make you harbor one or two evil thoughts, but you were unable to do so. Can you at least let me die in peace?"** If Ichigo would be here would not trust his ears, a hollow eager to die? A hollow what did not do any tricks than to make her harbor some thoughts? The orange haired captain would question if he was a hollow at all.

"Soten Kisshun…" She calls her healing shield making the hollow to look quite good. Now that he is healed she could see a crown on his head.

**"Might I have been wrong so that you would not let me die peacefully?" **He doesn't understand her powers, but he enjoyed to be in one piece again.

"Who are you?" She steps on the shadows feeling that she shouldn't worry anymore.

**"You're quite brave to step in my shadows, but since you helped me recover one last time I will answer your questions. I'm go by many names, but you should be familiar with the name Hollow King."** She is shocked by his confession, but she trusts him.

"How come you are here and not in Hueco Mundo?" The kings leans on the bark knowing that this story will take a while.

**"As you should know the hollows aren't the definition of a good being. They try to scheme and do as much malice as they can. The hollows don't have such much brain, so they were manipulated by the Grand Fisher. They weakened me, then they captured me through some kind of ancient spell. I managed to escape of a part of the spell, but I needed to live in other bodies to live through their malice. Muramasa was the closest I could get to the Grand Fisher, but you know very well how did he end. So now that you know my story and that I have no intent to hurt you, you can go back to your man." **The demon king wants to sit, but Orihime puts her palms on his shoulders.

"Why do not we work together to win against the Grand Fisher? If you help us, I will try my best to untie your spell." The demon king feels something in his heart for the first time in his entire life. Could she truly influence his destiny?

**"Why are you sure that I didn't lie you and that I will not betray you for my breed." **The king denies his emotion, something is wrong with her.

"I don't believe that you have to lie to me. I believe we can be good friends." She is now sure that being friends with a hollow is not as impossible as it seems.

**"You can call me Kayne. You should leave now. That man is too restless that he might break some barriers that he shouldn't." **The girl didn't have the time to explain that she doesn't know how can she go back to Soul Society, because Kayne pushed her and she was back in her shinigami body.

***Back to the facility***

"Ouch…" She cries trying to get used to her normal body.

"Are you fine? It's normal for your body to hurt since it was your first journey, and it was not a short one. You were gone for 3 days, and I swear if you wouldn't have come now I would have come to get you." Ichigo doesn't want to touch her, to not cause her any more pain, but he really wanted to check that she is alright.

"Kurosaki-kun, I've done it, I've done it." The man is surprised to see Orihime jumping in his arms. He doesn't want to brake the moment, he simply wants to enjoy her presence. "I have even made the Hollow King to agree to take down the Grand Fisher." Her joy was adorable, but her words needed more explanation.

"What have happened?" Ichigo inquires feeling even more dangers that are yet to come. He listens to her every word. He cannot believe that the hollow king will agree so easily, but he shouldn't voice his worries yet.

"I have feelings for you too, Kurosaki-kun." She whispers when she senses his muscles to relax. He grabs her head with his left palm, while with his right arm is supporting her body and he gives her a kiss full of passion. His fingers were massaging her head, while his tongue was searching the insides of her mouth's cave.

His left palm gently moves under her clothes to open that pink bra.

"Kurosaki-kun…" She moans his name while he is 'busy' to take 'care' of her bosoms. His tongue conquers greedy every inch of her skin, making it his. He takes extra attention to her nipples biting and sucking them gently. Orihime feels her mind go blank receiving such a 'treatment'.

Ichigo presses Orihime to the ground, to take care of her lower part what is insanely wet. He doesn't use his fingers to intrude in her, because he didn't want her to lose her virginity with his hand. The woman sank her teeth involuntary in his shoulder skin, trying to cover her voice.

He raises his head at her level, in eyes could been read so much love.

"You should not be afraid to cry, Hime. There is only the 2 of us." The girl nods, but he decides to reward her with another long kiss, while his hand doesn't forget to take 'care' of her. When he decides to tease her clitoris, the pleasure was so intense that the beauty tried to remove his palm, but she discovers that her hands were captive in his free palm. "Relax. Enjoy." He could sense her at the limit, so he removes his lips from hers.

This should be her first climax since they are together, so he's not going to miss any second for anything. His speed increases, she could see white starts shining with her eyes, she bit her lover lip to blood in order to avoid making even more indecent sounds. Her body arched, after what white liquid flow on Ichigo's palm.

"Good girl." He kisses her sweet on her forehead, then he lays himself down next to her. His body is burning with desire. How could he be content by just messing around having a woman as her? He tries to cover his eyes in order to try to forget what deity stands next to him, but her body images are tattooed on his brain.

"Kurosaki-kun, can we continue?" She asks bashful seeing the 'tent' between his legs. He is really trying to be gentle, considering that this is her first time, but his body is burning, his lungs even declined the air till the 2 would 'merge', so her request is damn hard to refuse.

"Hime, this is you first time. I want that your first time to be special, not something done on the spur of the moment." He tries to be rational, he should be, after all he has some experience and he knows how much a woman values her first night. "Hime!" He cries her name feeling his member being surrounded by something hot.

"It's not fair for you to torment yourself for me." She removes her lips from his member to testimony her belief, after what she keeps playing with its tip. It takes him literally all the strength of his body to remove her from him.

"I'm not talking here about torment. You're really special for me. I don't want you to do something what you will later regret." He has such a guilty sparkle in his eyes. He desires her a lot, but he would rather restrain himself than to give her any doubt. She kisses him sweetly.

"I desire no one else than you. How could I not be content with such a caring, gentle person what can love me so much?" Her lips seal his, in order to prevent him to deny. "I'm ready." She whispers, her voice trembling a little.

Having her in that position would not ease her pain, but she needed his support so let it be.

"I'm entering." He says making room for its head. The nails of the girl are sinking in his yukata, it hurts but not as much as she heard of. "I'm going all the way." Her mind was too slow to process his words, because the next thing what she feels is pain and all of his length. "Damn. Are you ok?" He can fell blood dripping from their connection, but he doesn't want to move an inch without her approval.

"You can move." She agrees, her muscles not being tense as before. Of course it hurts, but sensing his warmth inside pays it all.

He decides to move slowly. She is so tight, that his member doesn't agree with its owner. All of Orihime's tension disappears and she starts to feel the pleasure. His member rubbing her insides is so special. She glues her lips to his so he starts move at his usual speed.

It was special. It was like fireworks were dancing through their veins. Their hearts were pacing in the same rithm, and when her chest pressed on his, he climaxed. It was a mix of love liquids what fulfilled her to her limit. It was the first time for Ichigo to ejaculate in a woman, but he didn't care, because he couldn't see his future without her.

**Next chapter : Orihime's hollow form. New abilities. (part 2)**

**Next update : Probably on 22-23 August (is in progress)**

**A.N. Starting with this chapter the story is rated with M. It was quite a long way for Ichigo to confess to Orihime, but he did it:X **

**Starting with this chapter also, there will be more ichihime scenes. I'm really curious about what do you believe about this chapter. **

**What do you believe about Kayne? Is he a good guy or may all be a conspiracy?**

**As a spoiler alert: in the next chapter will be a big focus on Orihime's abilities. And just a hint… don't trust whatever you see : )**

**Special thanks for:**

\- **Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, kronarack45, namiah04, MIKE202303, luvyesica14, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, Mdelcsw70, ****yumeyumi1986****, DoctorSurgeon, Orihime-18, , Rito Dragneel, for adding this story to their favorite list.**

\- **Askosh Mosey, Ffreader1000, Ichigo Muramasa, Isabelle Corales, LeeHimeChan, Mdelcsw70, Princess Sarada Uchiha, daianapoter, kronarack45, makixp, namiah04, Grimlock987, Zanna-san, ****yumeyumi1986****, DoctorSurgeon, Orihime-18, 93, Rito Dragneel, guguvundla100, tipipkd, NazRif99 for following this story**

\- **Daianapoter, makixp, Guest, Cutsodep, Orihime-18, Mdelcsw70, Isabelle Corales for letting me a review or reviews with their thoughts about this story. It means so much to me to know what did you like or what you didn't or maybe what you want to know about the plot or simply your ideas.**

**Please review/follow/favorite it. Thank you for your time reading it, I hope it was on your liking. XOXO Justme210 : )**


End file.
